Family members of a man buried at Forest Lawn Glendale in 2014 are suing the cemetery, saying some of them were recruited to make adjustments in their dead relative’s casket while the lid was open after the receptacle proved too wide to fit into the grave site.
The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Tuesday are Juana Martin of Glendale, the widow of Agustin Martin; Annabelle Mas and Mark Martin; the couple’s children; and the Martins’ grandchildren, Kyrsten Mas, 25, and Kellsie Mas, 23.
The suit alleges negligence and both negligent and reckless infliction of emotional distress. The family seeks unspecified damages.
“Plaintiffs recall the entire experience as horrible, traumatizing and something no family ever have to endure during burial of their loved one,” the suit states.
A Forest Lawn Glendale representative did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit, Agustin Martin and his wife bought adjoining plots at the cemetery about 10 years before his death on July 10, 2014, of esophageal cancer. His widow bought a casket for $1,700 and paid for related burial costs, then asked that her late husband be buried in front of family members and friends in attendance as he requested before he died, the suit states.
The chapel services took place nine days after the death and burial was scheduled to follow afterward, the suit states. A Forest Lawn employee, Michael Vallez, directed the grave site proceedings, the suit states.
The pastor in attendance finished prayers, doves were released and the Martin family placed roses on the casket, the suit states. However, workers were unable to lower the casket into the grave because the dimensions of the site were dug too small, according to the lawsuit.
“The casket would not fit because the handles on the casket extended over the sides of the dug grave, rendering the casket wider than the grave,” the suit states.
Vallez told the family members that burial might have to be postponed, but the relatives insisted it take place because many of the 175 guests came long distances to be present, the suit states.
Vallez walked away and spoke to someone on a telephone, then returned and asked the pallbearers to put the casket in a Forest Lawn van so that it could be altered out of the view of the guests, the suit states.
Vallez told the decedent’s relatives that the heads of the handle screws that needed to be removed were inside the casket, meaning the lid would have to be re-opened and Agustin Martin’s body would have to be pushed to one side, the suit states. The linen lining the casket would also have to be torn to expose the heads of the screws, the suit further states.
Vallez opened the casket in front of Agustin Martin’s family members and he asked the decedent’s children to help him remove the handles, the suit states.
Although distressed at Vallez’s request, the Agustin children “crawled into the van and had to constantly maneuver their father’s remains inside the casket so that the lining could be torn open and access to the screws could be had,” the suit states. “As they unscrewed the handles, Mark was dripping sweat on his father’s body as it was very hot in the van.”
Due to the delay in the burial while changes were made to the casket, many of the guests left before it was finally lowered into the grave site, the suit states.
— Wire reports