A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that a New York funeral home sent the wrong body for burial in Guatemala last year.
The family of Elder Emilio Garcia Umul claims in the lawsuit against Rivera Funeral Home that the funeral home sent the body of a 96-year-old woman instead of that of Garcia Umul, who was 39.
The family discovered the error while it was watching a livestream of the funeral service held in Guatemala in May, according to a news release announcing the suit.
“I think what they did was unforgivable,” Leonor Valente, the mother of Garcia Umul’s children, told NBC New York. “It took a lot for me to say goodbye to him, only to realize I wasn’t even saying goodbye to him — it was someone else.”
It’s the second time Rivera Funeral Home has been sued for the alleged mistaken delivery since October. The same firm filed both lawsuits.
The latest suit did not appear to be listed in an online list of cases Tuesday night, and it was unclear whether the funeral home had an attorney in the case.
An attorney listed as representing Rivera Funeral Home in the first lawsuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
The body that was mistakenly sent to Guatemala was that of Carmen Maldonado, the lawsuit says. The first lawsuit was filed in October by Maldonado’s family.
Maldonado’s family was able to bring her back to Ecuador, where she was eventually laid to rest, NBC New York reported.
The funeral home denied the allegations in the first suit in an answer to that complaint. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Tuesday’s lawsuit alleges that Garcia Umul’s body “was not properly prepared for transport and was carelessly left in New York.”
The family was “horrified, saddened, sickened, dismayed” upon learning through the funeral livestream that his body had been left in New York, according to the suit.
The suit seeks unspecified damages, alleging negligence, the infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and loss of sepulcher. The right of sepulcher is a right in New York law for loved ones to have their relatives’ remains preserved and buried.
