Jury Returns $400,000.00 Funeral Home Negligence Verdict
Posted by
Staff WriterMarch 15, 2007 6:07 PMA New Hanover County jury returned a verdict totaling $400,000.00 against a Wilmington, North Carolina funeral home for negligently mishandling the body of the claimant's 30-year-old son.
The plaintiff, Alexandra Klinger, was a devout follower of the Jewish faith. Her deceased son, Israel, was a follower of the Christian Orthodox faith. The Jewish and Orthodox faiths have similar requirements for the handling of the body of a deceased. These faiths have strict prohibitions against embalming a body, removing hair, or otherwise altering the body in any respect. The commission of any one of these acts is considered desecration of the body. These faiths further require that someone stay with the body until burial. The body must be buried within three days of death.
The defendant funeral home followed the instructions of the son's fiancé to embalm his body instead of releasing the remains to his family.
The defendant said that they acted properly because the fiancé had a standard durable Power of Attorney and Healthcare Provider from the son. The fiancé signed a pre-need funeral contract with the defendant funeral home shortly before the deceased son's death.
The mother had called the funeral home and asked that they return her son's body to her. The defendant funeral home denied ever receiving such a call.
The mother brought an action for negligent mishandling of a corpse and for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The jury found for the mother on the issue of negligent mishandling of the claim, but also found against the mother on her claim for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The jury returned a verdict of $100,000.00 as compensation for the mother's pain and suffering. The jury also returned a verdict of $500,000.00 as punitive damages for the funeral home's wrongful conduct. Under North Carolina law, which imposes a cap on punitive damages, the Court reduced the punitive damages award to $300,000.00. In total, the funeral home must pay $400,000.00.
The case is currently on appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.