When you start the process of planning a funeral service, you expect to receive compassionate service at one of life’s most difficult moments. Your family could have been the victim of funeral home negligence if you were pressured to purchase unwanted or unneeded services or did not receive the full range of services you did purchase. These actions could entitle you to financial recovery.
You do not have to seek compensation alone while coping with your loss. If you were victimized by funeral home negligence in any form, you can hold the provider accountable for their actions. Florida funeral home negligence lawyers support families like yours through this challenging and emotional legal process. You may not have to pay upfront fees or a hefty retainer to get legal services and support.
You Need to Know What Actions Constitute Funeral Home Negligence
No one should be taken advantage of, misled, or mistreated when making the final arrangements for a departed loved one. Some commonly reported examples of funeral home negligence include:
- Losing or mishandling of a decedent’s remains or cremains
- Embalming, burying, or cremating of the wrong body
- Harvesting or selling a decedent’s body or organs
- Burial in the wrong coffin, urn, or burial plot
- Physical or sexual abuse of a corpse in any fashion
- Employing unlicensed embalmers or funeral home staff
- Pressuring you to purchase a package containing unwanted items or service
- Failure to provide all the services your family chose and purchased
- Failing to provide you with a detailed, itemized, written receipt
Discovering that you were the victim of funeral home negligence can be traumatic. You do not have to build your funeral home negligence claim or fight for justice alone.
Evidence Funeral Home Negligence Lawyers Collect to Support Your Claim
Personal injury claims like yours require a plethora of evidence to substantiate your case and document your right to financial recovery. In the midst of a loss, you may not immediately recognize the signs of funeral home negligence, which can make it hard to prove on your own.
Evidence you can compile for your case file includes:
- Receipts and contracts for purchased goods and services
- Correspondence, including emails, written letters, and voicemails
- Statements from family members, friends, and other witnesses
- Testimonials from funeral home staff and industry experts
- Funeral home licensing, inspection reports, and certifications
You can further substantiate your funeral home negligence claim with your own written statement about the service you wanted versus the service you received, including photo and video evidence.
Understand Your Consumer Rights in a Funeral Home Negligence Case
The funeral and death care industry is carefully regulated by My Florida CFO’s Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services. Its laws govern all the following areas:
- Licensing
- Death registration
- Burial-transit permits
- Final disposition records
- Cemeteries
- Tombs and monuments
If your funeral home negligence case is the result of a violation of one of Florida laws, a funeral home negligence lawyer can help you prove the elements of negligence, which include:
- The funeral service provider owed you a duty of care
- The funeral service provider’s actions breached their legal duty
- Their breach caused financial and emotional harm
- Their negligence can be documented with receipts, bills, etc.
A lawyer in your area can take on all the hard work of building a compelling case file while you focus on taking care of your family at a trying time.
Compensation You Can Recover With a Funeral Home Negligence Claim
A funeral home that did not provide your family with the respect and fairness you deserved can be held accountable for their actions. Damages you can claim for funeral home negligence include:
- Noneconomic damages: Pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental and emotional trauma, diminished quality for the decedent’s family members
- Economic damages: The original funeral and burial expenses, costs of reburying your loved ones, restitution for lost or stolen items
- Punitive damages: These damages are awarded to penalize egregious behavior and discourage its repetition. Because they are also rarely awarded, a lawyer can help you find out if your case qualifies for punitive damages.
The evidence your lawyer collects will include receipts and other paperwork that substantiate your recoverable damages.
What You Need to Know When Hiring a Funeral Home Negligence Attorney
Your funeral home negligence attorney will also handle each phase of the settlement negotiation process. They will receive offers, measure their pros and cons, and guide you toward the best settlement decision for you and your family. They will:
- Deal with the funeral home and their insurer for you
- Manage all the paperwork related to your claim
- File your insurance claim and lawsuit in a timely manner
- Manage all verbal, written, and electronic communication
- Locate and interview family members and witnesses
Hiring a lawyer to manage the hard work and details of your claim is risk-free since you can generally receive legal care on a contingency fee basis. This fee structure means you only compensate the law firm after they recover damages for you.
Understand the Time You Have to File a Funeral Home Negligence Lawsuit
The personal injury statute of limitations is generally two years, according to Florida Statutes § 95.11. Failure to file your lawsuit on time means you could inadvertently forfeit your right to file it at all. It could also mean the court will dismiss it without ever hearing its merits.
Funeral home negligence lawyers in Florida can help your family fight back by filing your lawsuit within the allotted time and in the appropriate court.
Get Help With Your Funeral Home Negligence Claim
If your family was a victim of funeral home negligence, our law firm will help you file an insurance claim or lawsuit for financial compensation. Your family deserved compassionate service that met your needs without undue pressure or subpar service.
Our funeral home negligence attorneys will pursue the funeral home and their insurance company on your behalf. Call (954) 633-8270 to contact our consultation team at the Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato to get started today.
