PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) – A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a Seabrook crematorium and 11 Massachusetts funeral homes that used it, claiming that they improperly handled bodies.

Meanwhile, authorities searched two of the funeral homes and residences in Massachusetts on Friday to find financial records that “would indicate control and ownership” of the Bayview Crematory, as well as the relationship between the crematory and the funeral homes, Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said.

Defendants are Linda Stokes, owner of the Bayview Crematory property, and funeral homes in Boston, Lawrence, Haverhill, Quincy, Dracut, Brighton and Newburyport, Mass. The suit was filed in Essex County Superior Court on Thursday by Paul Anzalone of Mansfield, Mass., and 35 other plaintiffs from that state.

The families seek damages for negligent and intentional emotional distress.

A lawyer for Stokes, Gerard LaFlamme Jr., did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday afternoon.

Search warrants were executed against the funeral homes in Lawrence and Salisbury, both in Mass., and in homes in Salisbury belonging to Stokes and Derek Wallace, the former owner of Bayview, Reams said.

Neither Stokes nor Wallace has been charged with any crime.

Most of the records concerning what went on at the Seabrook crematory remain in the hands of the Rockingham County Attorney’s office and are sealed pending the outcome of an investigation.

David H. Charlip, of Hollywood, Fla., who filed the lawsuit, said he believes most of the bodies cremated at Bayview came from Massachusetts. He said once he gains access to the crematorium’s records, he plans to file similar lawsuits in Maine and New Hampshire.

The Bayview Crematory has been the subject of investigation by various New Hampshire agencies since Feb. 23, when state troopers found the partially decomposed body of a woman in a non-air-conditioned room at the Seabrook business. They also found the remains of two people in the crematorium’s oven and a trash bin located in the rear of the building overflowing with medical waste.

“We still have four sets of remains seized at Bayview that haven’t been identified,” Reams said.

An investigation found that the crematorium was not licensed by the state and led to charges against two assistant medical examiners for allegedly taking money from crematoriums without overseeing the process as the law requires.

Charlip said he filed suit against the funeral homes and directors because “our clients relied upon those funeral homes, so they bear the primary liability.”