A Florida man has brought a $5 million negligence lawsuit against a Queens chapel and cemetery, claiming they botched his father’s burial by dropping the coffin and causing the corpse to fall out as family members looked on.
Yakov Sherman of Naples is suing the Mount Carmel Cemetery Association and Parkside Memorial Chapels after they allegedly ruined the Nov. 13 burial of his father, Aron Sherman.
“While lowering the coffin into the grave, the defendant’s employees dropped the coffin,” which caused the lid to fall off and “the body of Aron Sherman was ejected from the coffin,” the Brooklyn federal lawsuit alleges.
The body “fell into the dirt of the burial hole” in plain view of relatives, court papers claim. The family was then pushed back while the workers “retrieved” the remains.
A rep with the cemetery declined to comment, while a manager at Parkside Memorial passed the buck, saying, “The cemetery workers who were responsible for handling the casket at the graveside dropped it.”
He added, “The funeral home doesn’t handle the casket at the cemetery.”