Botched burial prompts suit against Overland Park cemetery

Kansas City Business Journal by Paul Koepp, Reporter
Date: Monday, December 19, 2011, 2:44pm CST

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 Legal Services, Overland Park

Paul Koepp

Reporter - Kansas City Business Journal

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An Overland Park family is suing over a burial gone horribly wrong.
On May 21, 2010, the widow, sons and other relatives of a 74-year-old retiree gathered to lay him to rest at Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens at 11200 Metcalf Ave. in Overland Park.
But after torrential rains the day before, the grave was full of water.
After a graveside ceremony, the apparently undaunted staff allegedly tried unsuccessfully to force the casket and vault down into the water.
According to a lawsuit filed against the cemetery Nov. 29 in Johnson County District Court, family members who had remained nearby heard cemetery employees laughing at the sight of the floating casket.
Eventually, the casket and vault were lifted out with a backhoe, but not before water had started to seep in. Employees drilled holes in the casket to drain it of water, the lawsuit said.
The mishap necessitated a second funeral and burial. That time, according to the lawsuit, one of the sons noticed black mold on his father’s ear.
The man’s widow was “distraught,” the lawsuit said.
A manager of the cemetery did not immediately return a call.
The family is represented by Brian Niceswanger of McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC    .
The lawsuit also targets Olathe-based Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home and Crematory, as well as the casket and vault manufacturers and sellers.
The funeral home’s attorney, Michelle Stewart of Hinkle Law Firm LLC, declined to comment.
Paul writes about legal affairs and advertising and marketing.