Burying wrong body costs funeral home $730,000

The White Funeral Home of Lubbock, Texas whose motto is “We care for yours as we would have ours cared for” has been order to pay $730,000 in damages for a negligent burial.

Here are the details from Logan G. Carver, Jury awards $730,000 to family in negligent burial, Avalanche-Journal (Lubbock, TX), Aug. 21, 2008:

• Daughter claimed that funeral home buried the wrong body instead of her mother.
• The jury did not specifically find that a wrong burial occurred but instead found that the funeral home did not uphold a relationship of trust and confidence.
• The jury determined that Daughter was partially to blame because she did not look inside the casket to make sure that the body was actually her mother’s.  The error would have been readily apparent as the body which was buried was five inches taller than her mom.
• Mother’s husband received the following damages:
  • $4,401 in actual damages (difference between value of funeral services husband agreed to pay and the value of the actual services performed).
  • $250,000 for past physical pain and mental anguish.
  • $250,000 for future pain and anguish.
• Daughter received the following damages:
  • $175,000 for past pain and anguish.
  • $50,000 for future pain and anguish.
• The jury found that the funeral home was merely negligent, that is, the actions were not malicious.

Moral of this case — Always check inside the casket!