Rader Funeral Home, Inc. v. Chavira, 553 S.W.3d 10 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2018, no pet.).
A funeral home delivered the wrong body to the
decedent’s family. The mistake was noticed just before the service was
to start when the decedent’s widow and son were to preview the body.
When the casket was opened, they were shocked to find the body of
another man, an additional victim of the same car accident that killed
the decedent. The widow and son filed suit against the funeral home for
negligent infliction of emotional distress and prevailed at the trial
court.
On appeal, the court rejected the claim that the
funeral home did not have a contract or other relationship with the
widow and son which would thus prevent them from recovering for mental
anguish damages. After a detailed review of the Texas law regarding a
cause of action mental anguish, the court followed the Texas Supreme
Court case of SCI Texas Funeral Services v. Nelson, 540 S.W.3d
539 (Tex. 2018), which held that the “relationship between a person
disposing of a decedent’s remains and the next of kin is special, even
without a contract.” Accordingly, the widow and son did not need
contract privity and could prevail based on the independent legal duty
the funeral home had not to mishandle the decedent’s remains.
Moral: A funeral home should have someone
who knows the decedent, but who would not be upset upon seeing a
different body, check the contents of the casket prior to allowing
family members to view the casket’s contents.