ALLEGED MISHANDLING OF DECEDENT’S BODY BEFORE PLAINTIFF TOOK CUSTODY OF IT SUPPORTED THE RIGHT OF SEPULCHER CLAIM (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, over a dissent, determined the “right of sepulcher” cause of action properly survived summary judgment:

The record demonstrates that there are factual issues as to whether defendant improperly dealt with the decedent’s body. In his deposition testimony, plaintiff described viewing the body of the decedent, his father, in a closet-like room where supplies were kept. Plaintiff testified that his father’s hands and feet were bound, his stomach had become bloated, he was dirty and unshaven, and a tube was placed down his throat. The decedent’s longtime companion further testified that the area where the body was kept “seemed like [a] garbage dump.” This alleged mishandling and presentation of the body is, contrary to our dissenting colleague’s view, sufficient to raise a factual issue requiring resolution at trial … . * * *

… [T]he right of sepulcher safeguards the surviving next of kin’s right to find “solace and comfort in the ritual of burial” … . Burial rituals involve more than simply placing a body in its final resting place. Indeed, one need only consider the Catholic practice of holding a wake or vigil, or the ritual cleansing of a body following death by Jews and Muslims, as examples of the ways in which human tradition has shown respect to the dead in the moments preceding burial itself… . That plaintiff ultimately took custody of the decedent’s body in a timely fashion does not assuage the harm caused by defendant’s having allegedly improperly dealt with it. Almeyda v Concourse Rehabilitation & Nursing Ctr., Inc., 2021 NY Slip Op 03521, First Dept 6-3-21