A family is suing Utah funeral home over mother’s missing remains

On a January day last year, Chris Razmic went to a Provo funeral home to pick up her deceased mother’s cremated remains.

It had been 18 days since Darla Razmic had passed away, and more than two weeks since the woman’s body had been taken to Walker Sanderson Funeral Home to be cremated.

But when her daughter went to the funeral home, she was told her mother’s remains weren’t there.

She was told someone else — maybe another family member — had picked them up, but an employee couldn’t say who it was. They didn’t request or require a signed receipt.

Nearly two years later, it’s still a mystery where Darla Razmic’s remains are.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in 4th District Court, her children and grandchildren allege funeral home staffers either lost Darla Razmic’s remains or somehow gave them to someone else who thought they were getting their own loved one’s remains.

Three of Darla Razmic’s children and six grandchildren are listed plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Their attorney, George Tait, wrote in the lawsuit that the family is “horrified” and “shocked” at the loss of their loved one, and have not been able to properly hold a proper memorial service because the woman’s remains are still missing.

“[They] have not been able to properly grieve and obtain closure,” Tait wrote in the lawsuit. “In addition, plaintiffs have forever been denied the peace and serenity of being able to say goodbye to their loved one.”

Tait told The Tribune on Thursday that the family’s lawsuit is the only remedy available to them, and said they wanted to file suit in an effort to make sure something similar doesn’t happen to someone else. They are also concerned, he said, that other families may not be aware that they do not have the correct remains of their loved ones.

“It appears that the funeral home inflicted a loss upon this family that cannot be undone,” the attorney said. “Their mother’s remains will forever be lost to them.”

The family is suing the funeral home for breach of contract, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. They are seeking an unspecified amount of economic and punitive damages.

Funeral director Stewart Walker, who is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

from The Salt Lake Tribune http://ift.tt/2BQqaNg