Opinion Number

Inquiry requests whether scattering cremated remains triggers Title 8 dedication provisions (La.R.S. 8:304-306).
Title 8 defines cemetery property and requires dedication filings; presence of remains may trigger dedication regardless of recordation.
Louisiana law defines interment to include scattering; isolated scatterings outside cemeteries are not interments.
Scattering gardens are within cemeteries and thus within Title 8; isolated scatters outside cemeteries are not categorically cemetery property.
Existence of a potential absurd result if dedications extended to entire areas where ashes are scattered, e.g., vast noncemetery lands; Legislature did not intend that.
Conclusion: isolated scatterings of cremated remains outside cemeteries are not implicated by Title 8 dedication provisions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Do isolated scatterings trigger Title 8 dedication provisions?	McCann argues no; isolated scatterings are not interments and not cemetery property.	Caldwell contends dedication applies to cemetery property; interment triggers restrictions even if scattered outside a cemetery.	Isolated scatterings outside cemeteries are not implicated by Title 8 dedication provisions.
Does the existence of 'scattering garden' within La.R.S. 8:1(7) affect applicability to noncemetery scatterings?	Scattering gardens are cemetery areas; isolated noncemetery scatterings should not trigger.	Scattering gardens are within cemeteries and do not extend applicability to noncemetery scatterings.	Scattering gardens, within cemeteries, do not make isolated scatterings outside cemeteries subject to Title 8.

Touchard v. Williams, 617 So.2d 885 (La. 1993) (absurdity can’t be read into a statute)
Humphreys v. Bennett Oil Corp., 197 So. 222 (La. 1940) (historical jurisprudence on interment and related protections)
Thomas v. Mobley, 118 So.2d 476 (La. Ct. App. 1 Cir. 1960) (precedent on interment and cemetery-related considerations)