Family Claims Woman Was Mistakenly Buried In Clothes, Cemetery Plot Of Someone Else
WHITTIER (CBS) — The family of a woman who was mistakenly buried in another woman's cemetery plot has filed suit Wednesday against Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary.
The family of Mercedes Rodriguez says she left specific wishes: a closed casket funeral and internment above ground in her hometown in Nicaragua. Instead, Rodriguez was placed in an open casket, dressed in another woman's clothing and buried in that woman's cemetery plot, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Rodriguez family's lawsuit against Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary claims the funeral home confused her with another woman and is seeking pain and suffering and punitive damages.
Rodriguez, who was 87, had made her wishes known years before her death, even before her health declined, according to the Times.
The funeral home has refunded the family for the funeral insurance they purchased after the incident.
Rodriguez's body has since been exhumed and interred in Nicaragua, the Times reported.
KCAL9 legal analyst Steve Meister doesn't believe the lawsuit will get very far. He said Rose Hills made good on their mistake, corrected it and there was no malice involved.
