After his mother passed away in early 2023, the son arranged her burial through the funeral home, using a long-standing burial policy his mother had kept for years. Her wishes were simple: a traditional burial, in the family’s own cemetery plot, right next to her late husband. The son was grieving and overwhelmed, and trusted the funeral home to handle the arrangements with care.
The funeral home buried her too close to the surface. Within weeks, a corner of her burial container worked its way up and became visible above the ground. The son measured the depth himself and documented what he found, the casket sat just inches below the surface, shallow enough to touch.
Rather than coming to the family, the funeral home reopened the grave, removed the casket and burial container, obtained a new vault, dug the grave deeper, and reburied his mother, all without his consent, without notice, and without giving him any opportunity to be present or to object. He did not learn that his mother had been exhumed and reburied until after it had already happened.
We filed suit in Rains County. Texas law does not let a funeral establishment dig up interred remains on its own. Under Section 711.004 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, remains may be removed only with the written consent of the cemetery organization, the plot owner, and the next of kin, or, absent that consent, by permission of the county court. None of that consent was obtained here.
The record reflects a burial that failed at the basics: a grave that was not dug deep enough for the plot and the size of the burial container, inadequate supervision of the work, and a failure to confirm the grave was proper before the family was sent home. When the funeral home’s own error surfaced, it compounded the harm by disinterring and reburying the man’s mother in secret rather than involving the family the law required it to involve.
We brought claims for negligence and for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including representing that the funeral and burial services had benefits they did not have, representing that the services were of a quality they were not, failing to disclose what the funeral home knew, and breaching the implied warranty that the services would be performed in a good and workmanlike manner. We also pleaded that the funeral home acted unconscionably by taking advantage of a grieving family’s reliance on its professional expertise, and that it acted knowingly and intentionally.
A funeral home does not get to bury a man’s mother in a shallow grave, let her resurface within weeks, and then dig her up and rebury her in secret, and leave the family to find out after the fact.
We brought claims for negligence and for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including representing that the funeral and burial services had benefits they did not have, representing that the services were of a quality they were not, failing to disclose what the funeral home knew, and breaching the implied warranty that the services would be performed in a good and workmanlike manner. We also pleaded that the funeral home acted unconscionably by taking advantage of a grieving family’s reliance on its professional expertise, and that it acted knowingly and intentionally.
A funeral home does not get to bury a man’s mother in a shallow grave, let her resurface within weeks, and then dig her up and rebury her in secret, and leave the family to find out after the fact.
