Fort Myers Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer
A single medical examiner office serves three counties on this coast, so a Fort Myers family can end up dealing with an examiner and a funeral home in different counties at once. We take these claims for families across Lee County: wrongful cremation, remains lost or released to the wrong people, failed embalming, burial in the wrong plot. Our office is at 1825 Colonial Blvd, and a suit like this is filed in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the Lee County Justice Center. Call 833-370-8692 and speak to a lawyer about what happened.
Do not give a recorded statement to the funeral home or its insurer before you speak to a lawyer. Ask in writing who transported your loved one and when. Across a district this large there are usually more handoffs than a family is told about, and each one should have generated a record.
One examiner, three counties, long distances
Below is what a Lee County funeral home claim involves: what has gone wrong here specifically, what Florida requires you to prove, how it gets proved, and what it is worth. The statutes sit on the statewide page. This is the Southwest Florida part.
Lee County funeral home claims are filed in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the Lee County Justice Center. Southwest Florida combines a large retired population with families who mostly live elsewhere, and storm disruption to storage and staffing has produced its own set of failures here. Florida allows these claims with no physical injury.
What to do this week
None of this requires a lawyer and all of it is easier now than in six months. Where a case exists, these are also the steps that decide how strong it is.
- Write down the sequence while it is fresh. Who you spoke to and when, what you were told each time, what changed between one conversation and the next, and who else was in the room. The inconsistency between what a funeral home said on Tuesday and what it said on Friday is regularly the strongest evidence in these files, and it exists only if somebody wrote both down at the time.
- Ask for the remains to be left alone. Where anything can still be examined, say in writing that nothing further should be done: no further preparation, no cremation, no burial, no transfer, until it has been looked at. It is an uncomfortable thing to ask for and it is frequently the difference between proving a case and describing one. Say it to the funeral home and, where a regulator or a medical examiner is involved, say it to them as well.
- Tell the regulator, and keep the reference number. Florida licenses funeral establishments, cremation facilities and the people who work in them, and complaints are investigated. Making one does not replace a claim and it does not slow one down, and the investigation file that results is frequently the most useful document anybody produces. Keep whatever reference number you are given.
How these cases arise in Fort Myers
The Gulf Coast works differently from the east coast on this. A single medical examiner office in District 21 covers Lee, Hendry and Glades counties, an area far larger than any single-county district in South Florida. A death in a rural part of the district can mean a body travels a considerable distance before a funeral home ever receives it.
That geography puts more handoffs in the chain and more miles between them, and each handoff is a place custody can be documented badly or not at all. When a Fort Myers family cannot get a straight answer about where their loved one is, the answer often turns out to be a transport step nobody wrote down.
Southwest Florida’s funeral work runs on a population that mostly retired here from somewhere else, and it has been through several years of disruption.
Storage and refrigeration under strain
Storm seasons here have interrupted power, staffing and capacity at facilities holding bodies.
- Cooling that failed, or capacity that was exceeded, with bodies held longer than planned
- Deterioration discovered at a viewing the family had been assured was possible
- Records of storage temperatures and holding times, which establishments do keep
- Whether the family was told at the time, or found out at the funeral
Families who live somewhere else
A death here and a next of kin in Ohio is the ordinary case rather than the exception.
- Authorization taken from whoever answered rather than whoever had priority
- Arrangements made by telephone across a time difference
- Nobody in the family able to see the body or the establishment
- Remains shipped out of state, with a whole extra layer of transport paperwork
Remains being sent north for burial
A large share of Lee County deaths end in a burial in another state entirely.
- Transport arranged between two funeral homes in different states
- Embalming and sealing requirements for interstate transport
- Custody passing between businesses that have never dealt with each other
- A body arriving in the wrong condition, or at the wrong destination
Establishments serving several counties
The District 21 medical examiner covers Lee, Hendry and Glades, and the businesses spread similarly.
- A crematory serving establishments across a wide area, handling volume from all of them
- Long transport legs between collection, preparation and cremation
- Release paperwork at each handover, which is what fixes custody
- Complaint and licensing history that spans more than one county
What we ask Fort Myers families to look at
- A transport company involved that the funeral home did not disclose
- Long gaps between the date of death and the date the funeral home says it took custody
- A funeral home and a cemetery in different counties blaming each other
- Remains moved between facilities without the family being told
What actually goes wrong
These are the failures that bring families to this firm. Where a death fell under the District 21 Medical Examiner, which covers Lee, Hendry and Glades counties, the release paperwork usually shows who held custody at the moment one of them happened, and it is among the first records we request.
- Ashes lost, mixed with another person’s, or handed over in a container that was never opened until it was too late to ask
- A burial in the wrong plot, in the wrong section, or in a grave already occupied
- A body buried without the service the family paid for and was told had happened
- Embalming that was contracted for and never performed, discovered at a viewing
- A body stored without refrigeration, or in a facility whose cooling had failed
- Visible deterioration at an open casket viewing the family was assured would be possible
What a family is left with
The part where nobody believed them
Almost every family in these cases spent weeks being told they were mistaken, or upset, or misremembering, before anybody admitted anything. That period is its own harm and it is worth documenting, because it also goes to how the establishment behaved once it knew.
Physical and psychological illness
Sleep that does not return, weight lost, work missed, existing conditions that worsen, and treatment that would not otherwise have been needed. Where somebody has seen a doctor or a counselor about it, those records matter and they are part of the claim rather than a private matter kept out of it.
A family divided by it
These cases regularly split families, because one relative signed something, or was told something, or made a decision the others did not know about. That division is real and it also affects how a claim is brought, since Florida decides by statute who had authority and who may recover.
What Florida law requires you to prove
The claim exists without any physical injury
Florida is unusual here, and it is the single thing most families are told wrongly. The ordinary rule is that mental anguish is not recoverable without an accompanying physical injury. The mishandling of a dead body is a recognized exception to that rule, so a family with no physical injury at all still has a claim.
The statewide page sets out the authority for that, along with the standard of proof Florida applies, which is higher than most families are told and is worth understanding before anybody decides what to do.
Who was entitled to decide, and in what order
Florida decides by statute who may authorize a burial or a cremation, in a fixed order of priority, and a cremation cannot happen at all without that person’s written authorization. A very large share of these cases begins with somebody who was not on that list signing a form, or with nobody signing one. That order, and what it means for who may bring a claim, is set out in full on the statewide page.
The establishment, the licensee and the people who work there
Florida licenses funeral establishments, direct disposal establishments, cremation facilities, cemeteries and the individuals working in them, and a licensee is answerable for what happens under its license. The claim usually runs against more than one of them, and where a body passed between a funeral home, a crematory and a cemetery, the question of who held custody at the moment something went wrong is answered from the release paperwork rather than from anybody’s account.
The deadline
Most claims arising on or after March 24, 2023 have to be filed within two years, and an older one keeps the four years that applied when it happened. The practical deadline is much shorter, because the records that decide these cases sit with the establishment and the physical evidence is regularly destroyed as part of the very thing being complained about.
How we prove it in Lee County
The useful records in a Lee County case are frequently held by somebody two counties away, or in another state.
- The contract, the price list and every authorization form
- Storage, refrigeration and holding records where a body was held rather than moved promptly
- Transport documentation where remains were sent out of state, including the receiving establishment’s records
- Release paperwork at each handover between funeral home, crematory and cemetery
- Medical examiner release documentation where District 21 held the body
- Every communication with the establishment, in date order
- Licensing and complaint history for each business, across every county it operates in
- Treatment records for anybody in the family who sought help afterward
Ask for the storage and holding records early and in writing. Where a body was held longer than it should have been, those records say so plainly, and they are among the first things that stop being available.
What the funeral home and its insurer will say
The response in these files follows a pattern, and it starts with sympathy and a refund. What follows is worth recognizing for what it is.
The person who signed authorized exactly this
Then produce the authorization, and let it be compared against who Florida says was entitled to give it and what it actually says. These forms are frequently signed by the wrong relative, signed after the fact, signed in blank, or not signed at all. It is one of the most productive things to examine in the whole file.
That was the crematory, not us
Regularly a real division of responsibility and never a complete answer. A body that moved between a funeral home, a crematory and a cemetery generated release paperwork at every handover, and that paperwork shows who held it when. Each of them carries its own license and its own insurance, and naming all of them at the outset is ordinary practice.
There is no claim without a physical injury
Wrong in Florida, and it is the single most damaging thing families are told. The mishandling of a dead body is a recognized exception to the physical injury rule, which is why these claims exist at all. Families abandon good cases on this advice, given confidently by somebody who has not looked it up.
What a claim can include
- Income lost while dealing with it. Time away from work during the discovery, the correction and the treatment, which in these cases runs for months rather than days.
- Punitive damages where the conduct warrants it. Available in Florida on a heightened standard and on a court’s permission rather than as of right. Concealment, forged paperwork and a pattern of earlier complaints are what move a case into that territory.
- Mental anguish, which is the case. Not an add-on here. The emotional harm to the family is the injury Florida recognizes in these claims, and it is the largest part of what one is worth.
Why this office for a Fort Myers case
A Lee County funeral home claim is filed in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the Lee County Justice Center, and the firm has an office on Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers rather than a referral arrangement with somebody here. Where a family in another state is trying to find out what happened to a relative at an establishment they have never seen, the records, the inquiries and the local work happen from here.
Who you would be dealing with
A Fort Myers funeral home case is handled by one of the four trial attorneys in this photograph. You will speak with the attorney who has your case, and you will have their direct line whenever you need them.
They have been trying Lee County cases together since 1993, and a suit arising in Fort Myers is filed in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the Lee County Justice Center.
Meet the attorneys →Fort Myers funeral home questions
Answered by Brett J. Yonon, who handles the firm's funeral home and wrongful death cases.
Nobody can tell me where my loved one actually is. Where do I start?
With the paper. Every legitimate transfer of a body generates a record, including the release from the examiner and any transport company in between. In District 21 there are often more of those steps than families expect. We request the whole chain at once, because the gap in the records is usually the answer to what happened.
The body was visibly wrong at the viewing and they said that was normal.
It is a question with a documented answer rather than a matter of opinion. Establishments keep records of when a body was collected, how it was stored, at what temperature and for how long, and whether embalming was performed and when. Ask for those in writing now. Where the holding period or the storage was outside what it should have been, the records show it and they do not stay available indefinitely.
We are having the burial in another state. Does the claim belong there or here?
Usually here, because the conduct complained of happened at a Florida establishment under a Florida license. Where the receiving funeral home in the other state also did something wrong, there may be a claim there as well, and the two get assessed together. The Florida side is filed in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, and this office does that work rather than sending it out.
Where would a Fort Myers funeral home case actually be filed?
In the Twentieth Judicial Circuit at the Lee County Justice Center. Which courthouse matters more than people expect, because local practice, the judges and the jury pool all differ by circuit. We try these cases in Lee County rather than referring them out.
What should I do before I call a Fort Myers lawyer?
Keep asking the funeral home questions and get the answers in writing. Save every contract, authorization form and receipt. Do not give a recorded statement to their insurer first. Then call. If there is no case here we will say so, and the call still costs you nothing.
More in Fort Myers
Fort Myers Personal Injury Lawyer
Everything we handle in Lee County, and where our office is.
View →Florida Funeral Home Negligence Lawyer
The Florida standard of proof, the regulator, and the warning signs.
View →Case Results
Verdicts and settlements, including a $3,500,000 funeral home jury verdict.
View →
Nobody at the funeral home will give you a straight answer
Tell a lawyer what happened. We are at 1825 Colonial Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33907, and the conversation costs nothing even if we tell you there is no case to bring.