ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA— The parents of infant Ayelli Havana Reyes have filed a lawsuit against multiple funeral service providers after discovering that Holy Sepulchre Cemetery & Funeral Center cremated the wrong baby and then gave the ashes to the Reyes family, representing that the ashes were their daughter Ayelli’s. Five days later Holy Sepulchre, discovered the mistake and demanded that the Reyeses return their urn and ashes. According to the lawsuit, Holy Sepulchre then took steps to conceal the errors rather than admit its mistakes.
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court by the Law Offices of Goforth & Lucas, on behalf of Anjelita Reyes and Cesar Reyes, alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract against Holy Sepulchre Cemetery & Funeral Center, its parent company Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Oakland, and Irvington Memorial Cemetery.
“No parent should have to endure the shock and heartbreak of learning that the cemetery that they entrusted with their baby’s remains for cremation gave them someone else’s ashes,” said Michael D. Goforth, attorney for the plaintiffs. “and Holy Sepulchre’s betrayal that followed compounded my clients’ grief in ways that words cannot capture.”
Court filings allege that after giving the Reyes family the wrong ashes, Holy Sepulchre attempted to hide the mix-up by persuading the Reyeses to have their daughter cremated at Holy Sepulchre’s rarely used, in-house crematorium — rather than at Irvington Cemetery’s Crematorium, where Ayelli’s cremation had been contracted to take place. Just a week earlier, Holy Sepulchre had mistakenly delivered Ayelli’s cremation paperwork together with the other baby’s remains to the Irvington facility, which conducted the cremation.
The complaint states that Holy Sepulchre’s concealment caused the Reyeses severe and lasting emotional trauma. Additionally, to this day, the Reyeses face the uncertainty of whether the ashes in their possession are their daughter’s.
“The actions of the defendants violated the most basic ethical duties and trust owed to grieving parents,” Goforth added. “The subterfuge that followed inflicted additional catastrophic emotional harm on my clients — harm that no parent should have to endure.”
The Reyeses are seeking compensatory damages for ongoing emotional distress, as well as punitive damages against Holy Sepulchre to hold them accountable and to deter such misconduct from happening again.