California Car Accident Reports

The funeral home abuse attorneys at Bisnar | Chase represent grieving families who are victimized by greedy or unethical businesses that violate the dignity of their loved ones who are deceased. We have seen heartbreaking and outrageous negligence in several California funeral homes and cemeteries. However, the recent cemetery abuse scandal in Illinois is probably one of the worst cases we have seen so far.

Four cemetery workers at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip have been charged with dismembering bodies, The Chicago Tribune reports. Cook County Sheriff's officials say workers at the Burr Oak Cemetery allegedly dug up more than 100 graves dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves and resold the plots to unsuspecting members of the public. Three men and one woman were charged with one count each of dismembering a human body. Burr Oak is a renowned cemetery, with historical significance, especially to the African-American community. Burr Oak is the final resting place of many famous African-Americans including lynching victim Emmett Till, blues singers Willie Dixon, Dinah Washington and Otis Spann as well as Harlem Globetrotter Inman Jackson. Read the rest of this entry »

A family in Lake Worth, Florida, is suing Service Corporation International Funeral Services for funeral home negligence after the cemetery not only wrongly marked their father Jose Herrera's grave, but also told the family they did not know where the man's body was. According to a news article in the Palm Beach Post, the incident obviously traumatized the family, which often visited what they believed to be their father's grave leaving small Cuban flags and Yankee memorabilia. The family found out about the mix-up when they wanted to bury Herrera's wife, Rosa, next to him two years ago. To this day, Herrera's children and grandchildren do not know whose grave they were visiting or whether there was someone else buried there.

The lawsuit, filed by Herrera's son Jose Herrera Jr., claims compensation for emotional distress and mishandling of the body as well as misrepresentation that it was the final resting place for his father who passed away in 2003. The family is seeking damages in excess of $15,000. Rosa Herrera's body was buried temporarily until crews located her husband's remains, which took approximately one month. The remains were located 75 feet away from the marker that read "Jose Herrera Sr." Although Herrera's name was on the casket, family members say now they have doubts whether even those remains are their father's. Read the rest of this entry »