SAN BERNARDINO FUNERAL
HOME ABUSE ATTORNEYS
When you have lost a loved one, you expect that the funeral home or mortuary you choose will handle all aspects of the funeral you’ve entrusted to them with respect and care for you and your loved one. Unfortunately, that is not always the case in San Bernardino. Incidents of negligence, abuse, dishonesty, and taking advantage of a family at this vulnerable time occur much too often.
Regardless of whether the funeral home abuse is due to incompetence or is deliberate, you should seek the counsel of an experienced San Bernardino funeral home abuse lawyer who can explain your options, answer your questions, and seek legal action against the people responsible. By filing a personal injury lawsuit, you can and should hold funeral homes accountable for their negligence. If your deceased loved one was abused or neglected by a funeral home, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation.
If you believe that your loved one’s body has been handled improperly in any way and would like to learn more about your legal options, consult with a San Bernardino funeral home abuse attorney. The Riverside personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates have extensive experience in handling matters regarding funeral home negligence. We have a proven record of aggressively litigating against those who perform funeral home abuses and will fight for you during this difficult and stressful time.
With multiple offices located in Riverside, Anaheim, Irvine, Los Angeles, El Segundo, and San Diego, our funeral home abuse lawyers represent grieving families across Southern California. For more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation with a San Bernardino funeral home abuse attorney, please call 949-438-5829.
What is Funeral Home Negligence?
Although most funeral homes run honest businesses, some do not. The vast majority of funeral home abuse is done for monetary gain. Putting money before the feelings of a grieving family is reprehensible, but it does happen more often than you might think. Examples of funeral home abuse include but are not limited to:
- Removing and selling of organs or body parts
- Removing jewelry and other personal effects from a body
- Improperly storing and handling of bodies
- Failure to properly embalm a body
- Financial mistreatment of the family, including adding unnecessary expenses to an invoice or charging for services that were not agreed upon
- Placing more than one body in a casket
- Charging for an expensive casket and using a cheaper one
- Mixing the ashes of more than one person
- Mishandling, dropping or losing the body or ashes
- Placing the wrong body in the casket
- Delivering the deceased to the wrong gravesite
- Robbing the corpse
- Maiming or sexually abusing the corpse
- Cremating the wrong body
- Selling organs
What are a funeral home’s responsibilities?
Funeral homes can differ in the services offered, but most provide these basic services:
- Be on call 24/7, 365 days a year
- Remove and transfer the deceased from the place of death (home, nursing home, hospital, etc.) to the funeral home or crematory
- Perform professional care of the deceased, as requested by the family, which may include washing, embalming, restorative art, dressing, casketing, hairdressing, and cosmetology
- Gather the necessary information from the family to complete paperwork (certificate of death, etc.) and to arrange the details of the funeral service
- Formulate, complete, and file all necessary paperwork, including certificate of death or other permits and authorizations, and acquire the requested number of certified copies of the certificate of death for the family
- Compose an obituary that includes information about the service (date, time, location, etc.), and biographical and survivor information, and send it to all newspapers as requested by the family
- Offer assistance to the family by contacting the family’s choice of the clergy, other officiants, musicians, and singers if requested, and make arrangements with any special groups (military, fraternal, etc.) to be present at or participate in funeral services.
- Arrange for honorariums to be given to appropriate persons as requested by the family
- Contact and arrange necessary details with the cemetery, crematory, or other places of disposition, including fees, regulations, and other requirements, prior to the funeral service
- Help families with questions about veterans affairs, Social Security benefits, insurance claims, and other related inquiries
- Provide memorial products, such as a guest register book, acknowledgment cards, thank-you cards, memorial folders, prayer cards, and more, as requested by the family
- Arrange flowers, framed photos, photo collages, and other memorial pieces during services per the family’s request
- Direct funeral services in a professional manner from visitations to disposition of remains (burial, cremation, etc.)
- Deliver flowers, guest register book, flower cards, memorial contributions made to the family, photos that were displayed, and any other items back to the family after the service
- Assist the family with other arrangements as needed after the service, including adding death dates to existing monuments or purchasing new monuments
What types of damages can I recover from a funeral home abuse lawsuit?
Every case is different, but some of the common damages you can recover from funeral home abuse and neglect claims include:
- Psychological trauma
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life/loss of enjoyment
- Funeral expenses
- Other miscellaneous damages
Top-Rated Funeral Home Abuse Attorneys in San Bernardino Helping Grieving Families
In times of distress following an incident of abuse at a funeral home, the San Bernardino funeral home abuse attorneys at the Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates can help. Funeral home abuse claims are some of the most difficult cases that we handle. At the end of the day, our job is to help people, and we take our responsibility to support our clients very seriously. We help them through this very difficult period of their lives by explaining the laws that apply to their situation, advising them of their options under those laws, and building effective cases against the people who place profits before professional responsibilities.
If you have reason to believe that you or a deceased loved one has been the victim of funeral home abuse, consult with a San Bernardino funeral home negligence lawyer. As difficult as it may be, taking action may prevent families from suffering the same anguish and anger you endured.
With multiple offices located in Riverside, Anaheim, Irvine, Los Angeles, El Segundo, and San Diego, our funeral home abuse lawyers represent grieving families across Southern California. For more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation with a San Bernardino funeral home abuse attorney, please call 949-438-5829.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you sue the funeral home?
You are entitled to sue a funeral home, mortuary, and/or an employee for negligence if they have mishandled your loved one in any way or if they have mistreated you or your family. Funeral homes and mortuaries have a duty to care for the bodies entrusted to them. If they intentionally or unintentionally fail to do that, you can sue. You must show four elements: duty, breach, causation, and harm (or damages). This means you must show that the funeral home owed you a duty of care, that it breached that duty, and that the breach caused you injury or harm. In the most common funeral home negligence cases, plaintiffs recover for actual past expenses, reasonably foreseeable future costs associated with the harm, and similar losses. However, you can also recover from neglect of your loved one’s body on the grounds of emotional distress with an experienced funeral home abuse lawyer in San Bernardino.
What is the difference between a mortuary and a funeral home?
Mortuaries and funeral homes both provide similar services to the families of deceased loved ones, although mortuaries are more likely to have cremation services. Funeral homes generally plan and conduct a funeral or memorial service and offer help with grief counseling, but some mortuaries also help to plan memorial services. Some funeral homes work with mortuaries to offer embalming or cremation services to clients.
Who can file a lawsuit against a funeral home?
The law allows the deceased’s surviving spouse, parents, children, or anyone who is listed in the deceased’s will as a beneficiary to file a lawsuit against a funeral home for negligence. Consult with an experienced San Bernardino funeral home negligence lawyer to protect you and your family’s rights following an incident of abuse at a funeral home.
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