NYC funeral home company hit with another lawsuit over overseas burial mix-up
A second family is now suing a New York City funeral home company for what they call an unforgivable mix-up -- the wrong body being shipped out of the country for burial.
It was a shocking discovery for the family at the worst possible time. While mourning the death of the children's father, 39-year-old Elder Emilio Garcia, and watching his funeral in Guatemala via live stream, they saw the body in the casket wasn't him.
In his place was the body of a 96-year-old woman,
identified as Carmen Maldonado
.
The Rivera Funeral Home in Corona, Queens had sent the wrong body to Guatemala, where Garcia, a Queens waiter and father of four who died of a heart attack, was to be buried alongside his parents.
"It's completely irresponsible the way they have handled those bodies," said Leonor Valenta, Garcia's sister.
Valenta said to make matters worse, the funeral home seemed to have no idea where his body was.
"It was completely heartless. They were very stubborn with us. He never left the funeral home. He was there the whole time," Valenta said.
What's more, Maldonado's body was supposed to have been sent to Ecuador. Maldonado's family only found out she was mistakenly sent to Guatemala via a TikTok post.
Both families are now suing Bronx-based RG Ortiz Funeral Homes, which owns Rivera and other locations.
"The funeral home denied they made a mistake," said attorney Philip Rizzuto, who now represents both families. "I think the funeral home was hoping no one would find out about it, and they never would have told either family if this video didn't go viral."
The company was named in nearly 100 lawsuits and last year was cited by New York City for 82 violations.
The Department of Health, which oversees funeral homes, said its investigation is seeking fines and the potential revocation of licenses.
"They tortured the family. They didn't just fix it immediately," Rizzuto said. "They're taking advantage of them at their most vulnerable time of their lives."
"This was no mistake. It was negligence on their part and something that cannot be forgiven," Valenta said.
An attorney representing RG Ortiz Funeral Home said he had no comment on the series of complaints against the business. The Garcia family is seeking a jury trial, they say, to send a message.
It took 10 days for the mixed-up bodies to be properly buried in the correct countries.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
American Press
2 hours ago
- American Press
Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from immigration detention
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after 104 days by a judge's ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his U.S. citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. 'Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue,' he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. 'This shouldn't have taken three months.' Email newsletter signup The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be 'highly, highly unusual' for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence. 'Petitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence presented is that he is not a danger to the community,' he said. 'Period, full stop.' During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had 'clearly not met' the standards for detention. The government filed notice Friday evening that it's appealing Khalil's release. The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on the social platform X that the same day Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release, an immigration judge in Louisiana denied him bond and 'ordered him removed.' The decision was made by Judge Jamee Comans, who is in a court located in the same detention facility from which Khalil was released. 'An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained,' the post said. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's devastating war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. Farbiarz has ruled that the government can't deport Khalil on the basis of its claims that his presence could undermine foreign policy. But the judge gave the administration leeway to continue pursuing a potential deportation based on allegations that he lied on his green card application, an accusation Khalil disputes. The international affairs graduate student isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. He served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. The judge noted that Khalil is now clearly a public figure. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the Jena, Louisiana, detention facility had shown him 'a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.' 'Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human,' he said, adding that 'justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray' about immigrants. Khalil had to surrender his passport and can't travel internationally, but he will get his green card back and be given official documents permitting limited travel within the country, including New York and Michigan to visit family, New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances and Washington to lobby Congress. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally 'breathe a sigh of relief' after her husband's three months in detention. 'We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others,' she said. 'But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family.' The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. ___ Marcelo reported from New York. Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.
6 hours ago
Insurance firm ordered to pay $44M in lawsuit filed by man freed from prison
A man won $11 million in a lawsuit against police after his conviction for killing a Missouri newspaper's sports editor was overturned, but the city's former insurer resisted paying most of it for almost three years. A Missouri judge this week ordered the company to pay nearly $44 million. Most of the money would go to Ryan Ferguson, whose legal battle with Minnesota-based St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. in Missouri's courts started in 2017, about six weeks after he won a federal lawsuit against six Columbia police officers. Ferguson was convicted in 2004 of killing Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt but was released from prison in 2013 after a state appeals court panel concluded that he hadn't received a fair trial. Ferguson maintained his innocence. The city insurer paid Ferguson $2.7 million almost immediately after he won his federal lawsuit, and his attorneys expected St. Paul to pay $8 million under its coverage for the officers from 2006 to 2011. But the company argued that it wasn't on the hook because the actions leading to Ferguson's arrest and imprisonment occurred before its coverage began. While Ferguson sought to collect, the officers argued that St. Paul was acting in bad faith, shifting the burden to them as individuals and forcing them to face bankruptcy. Ferguson's lawyers took up those claims, and Missouri courts concluded that St. Paul was obligated to pay $5.3 million for the time Ferguson was in prison while it covered the officers. It paid in 2020. But the payment didn't end the dispute, and in November, a jury concluded that St. Paul had acted in bad faith and engaged in a 'vexatious refusal' to pay. Cole County Circuit Judge S. Cotton Walker upheld that finding in his order Monday as he calculated how much money the company would pay — mostly as punishment — under a Missouri law capping such punitive damages. 'It's a way to send a message to insurance companies that if there's coverage, they need to pay,' said Kathleen Zellner, whose firm represents Ferguson. She added: 'You can't just pull the rug out from under people when they've paid the premiums.' The company can appeal the decision. An attorney representing St. Paul did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. Under an agreement between Ferguson and the six officers, they stand to split about $5 million of the $44 million. The award of nearly $44 million includes $3.2 million to compensate Ferguson and the officers, another $24.2 million in punitive damages, $535,000 million for the 'vexatious refusal' allegation and interest on all of the damages totaling about $16 million.
CBS News
10 hours ago
- CBS News
Mother of Bronx high school student detained by ICE says family now lives in fear
Saturday marks one month since a Bronx high school student was taken into United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody following an immigration hearing. Dylan, 20, was the first New York City public school student that we know of to be detained as part of the Trump administration's ramped-up enforcement. It was the first high-profile arrest of its kind, not only sparking outrage and protests in the city, but giving us a glimpse at the strategies that federal agents are now using regularly – dismissing cases in immigration court before immigrants or those seeking asylum are detained and brought to parts unknown. "The conditions in the facility are deplorable" Dylan's mother, Raiza, spoke exclusively to CBS News New York's Doug Williams about the day she watched agents take her son away in handcuffs. "We were leaving the hearing, but as we walked towards the elevator, we noticed these two men who were following us. They told us to move towards the right side and that we were arrested. I told my son, 'It's ICE,'" Raiza said in Spanish. "They were violent." Raiza says Dylan was helping her raise his younger siblings, who are 7 and 10 years old, and it has been difficult to be without him. "I'm a single mom and he is my support," she said. The lawyers who represent the family say after his detainment, Dylan went from New York City to New Jersey, then to Texas, then to Louisiana, then to Pennsylvania, where he is now. Raiza said she spoke to Dylan as recently as Thursday. "A few days ago he told me they gave him rotten eggs for breakfast and he didn't eat them. Many times the food is spoiled," she said. "The conditions in the facility are deplorable. There are worms in the sink, and it's what they use to drink water ... He's felt sick, but instead of giving him meds, they just yell." A Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement, in part, "ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously. It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody." DHS added that Dylan is "an illegal alien from Venezuela who illegally entered the U.S. more than one year ago." "This is unjust" Raiza was asked if this experience has changed how she feels about what America represents as a country and a place to live. "We are trying to do things well, follow the law, and for this to happen, makes us fearful. This is unjust," she said. Raiza said her days are spent working to bring her son home, but at night, she is left to think about how far away her son still is. She was emotional when asked how she's been able to sleep. "I wait for his call at night. I pray to God for justice," she said. Dylan has a court date set for early July.
