Funeral Home Negligence Attorney

There are many decisions to be made after a loved one passes away, including choosing a funeral home to handle final arrangements. You should be able to trust and rely on the skill and expertise of the funeral director and staff to honor your loved one’s (and your) wishes. Unfortunately, things do not always go according to plan. 

If a funeral home’s negligence has caused you harm, you have rights. The funeral home negligence lawyers at Van Sant Law stand ready to advocate for you. 

At Van Sant Law, our attorneys are passionate about helping victims of personal injuries, protecting their rights and interests and fighting to help them recover the compensation they are entitled to receive under Georgia law. 

Van Sant Law is dedicated to handling personal injury matters – and only personal injury matters. Our legal professionals have years of experience and understand the nuances of Georgia personal injury laws, including those related to funeral home negligence. We also understand the pain you are experiencing. Dealing with negligence related to a loved one’s final arrangements, while you are already grieving the loss of your loved one, can be overwhelming. 

Holding the funeral home accountable for its negligence can bring you closure and send a powerful message to funeral directors. Contact Van Sant Law today to schedule a no-obligation consultation with an experienced funeral home negligence attorney. 

Arranging to have your loved one’s remains buried only to learn that the funeral home accidentally cremated the body is heartbreaking. There is no way for the funeral home to undo this type of mistake. 

Van Sant Law’s experienced funeral negligence lawyers help clients who find themselves facing this particularly egregious mistake. We will advocate for you to receive the best possible outcome in this situation. This may include monetary damages to cover the expenses you incurred for the funeral and disposition of the remains and damages for the emotional distress the situation caused. In addition, depending on the facts and circumstances, you may also be entitled to punitive damages, which are damages designed to punish the funeral provider for their negligence. 

In addition to accidentally cremating a body, there are several other ways funeral home negligence can occur. As is the case with accidental cremation, families who are harmed because of these other types of actions may be entitled to compensation. 

Some of the types of negligent actions and inactions the lawyers at Van Sant Law handle include the following: 

 
• Improperly handling the deceased’s remains: Lawyers that sue funeral homes unfortunately see a range of different infractions related to the improper treatment of remains. For example, funeral directors may drop bodies while they are being transported, misplace bodies, store bodies improperly (including putting more than one body in a casket), or provide the wrong remains to families.     
 
• Errors related to the embalming process: When funeral home staff make errors in the embalming process, it can result in excessive decomposition of the body. This, in turn, can deny the family the opportunity to have a viewing.     
 
• Cremation errors: Besides accidental cremation, errors related to cremation include cremating the wrong body, combining the ashes of more than one person, misplacing the cremated remains, or giving the wrong remains to the wrong family.     
 
• Theft and fraud. While the majority of people who work at funeral homes are honest and try to do the right thing for grieving families, both theft and fraud can occur. Employees may steal the deceased person’s personal property such as jewelry. In fact, sometimes employees commit theft by extracting gold teeth, removing prosthetics, and even removing body parts which they then sell. Fraud may occur when funeral homes overcharge families, try to re-sell caskets, and sell pre-need contracts which are never fulfilled.     
 
• Cemetery errors. Cemetery negligence lawyers also see heart-wrenching situations where a cemetery buried someone in the wrong plot, did not bury a body according to the family’s wishes, buried more than one body in a plot, allowed vandalism by failing to care for the plot appropriately, and more.