By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A team of lawyers will soon begin searching for the relatives of people whose bodies may have been photographed or viewed without permission at the Hamilton County morgue.

The lawyers hope to convince hundreds of relatives to join a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the county in 2001 after photographer Thomas Condon took photos of bodies posed with toys, seashells and other props.

The lawsuit, filed by families whose loved ones were photographed, accuses county officials of negligence for allowing Condon to have access to the morgue.

Attorney Stan Chesley said the lawsuit eventually may include several hundred plaintiffs. He said notices about the lawsuit will be posted within a month or so in Greater Cincinnati newspapers.

The search for more families was made possible this week when U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ruled that the lawsuit could go forward as a class-action complaint.

Spiegel said relatives participating in the lawsuit could be divided into several groups, depending on whether the bodies of their loved ones were "accessed, viewed, manipulated or photographed" at the morgue.

Although only nine bodies are known to have been photographed by Condon, as many as 500 were at the morgue during the six-month period he had access to the coroner's office.

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com