- Andrew Serrano's family is suing a
Massachusetts funeral home, The Eagle-Tribune reported. - The lawsuit said a strap broke and Serrano's body fell out, "oozing liquid," the report said.
A family is suing a Massachusetts funeral home, saying their family member's casket broke open as it was being lowered into the ground and his body fell out, The Eagle-Tribune reported.
The family of Andrew Serrano filed a lawsuit against the Perez Funeral Home last Wednesday in the Essex Superior Court in the city of Lawrence, The Eagle-Tribune reported.
The lawsuit said that during the funeral in April 2019, "one of the side straps on the city-owned casket lowering device broke, causing Mr. Serrano's casket to fall into the grave and break apart," the newspaper reported.
The family listed nine counts in the lawsuit, including negligence and negligent and reckless infliction of emotional distress, the report said.
Their lawsuit said that when the casket broke apart, Serrano's corpse "fell out of the casket and into the grave," where it started "oozing fluid," the newspaper said.
The lawsuit said that this was witnessed by "horrified family members who became visibly distraught and hysterical," The Eagle-Tribune reported.
Some family members then leapt into the grave to help, the lawsuit said, the newspaper reported.
The body was eventually brought back to the funeral home, and Serrano was buried a few days later, The Eagle-Tribune said, citing the lawsuit.
The funeral took place in the Bellevue Cemetery, which is owned by the city of Lawrence.
The lawsuit also named the city, the cemetery's board of trustees, and its directors, The Eagle-Tribune reported.
The family is seeking at least $50,001 in damages, the lawsuit said, the newspaper reported.