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JANUARY 2015
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
®
We
1-800-782-8249
www.mccordcaskets
By Atty. Harvey I. Lapin
Harvey I. Lapin, P.C., is a member of the Illinois Bar and Florida Bar. He
is a member of the faculty at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago
and is presently teaching the subject of Tax Exempt Organizations. He is
also associated with Florida-based law firm Sachs, Sax & Caplan, leading
the firm’s Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Practice Group.
He has written numerous articles on the subject of taxation, funeral
and cemetery law.
The subject discussed in this article and future articles resulted from
the questions from readers. If you have any questions about the top-
ics covered in this column or in obtaining professional assistance, please
contact the author c/o Harvey I. Lapin, 2592 Chedworth Ct, Northbrook,
Illinois 60062. Phone (847)509-0501 or fax to (847)509-1027.
`The author wrote articles for the Cemetery and Funeral Business
and Legal Guide (“Guide”) that have been published by CB Legal
Publishing Corporation since 1970. The Editor of the Guide recent-
ly announced the suspension of this publication. However, CB Legal
Publishing Corporation also publishes the Release Form Kit, which was
prepared by the author and has been recently updated and revised by
the author. The publication of the Release Form Kit will be continued.
This Kit contains Release and Hold Harmless forms for Funeral Homes,
Cemeteries and Crematories to use in situations where it has resolved
a complaint with a customer, and wants to be sure that there will be
no further action by the customer or their relatives. The forms can
now be purchased in an electronic format. Anyone interested in pur-
chasing the forms can contact Cheryl Lapin, at the address of CB Legal
Publishing Corporation, 2592 Chedworth Ct, Northbrook, Illinois
60062. The author also continues to practice law and can be contact
by phone at 847-334-1983.
Legal
Speak
Why Were They Sued?
Two recent opinions illustrate the litigation policy
by Plaintiffs’ attorneys of suing an industry mem-
ber even though that party was not really directly
involved with the basis for the lawsuit. Usually the
industry member gets out of the litigation, but not
without incurring legal expenses and loss of time.
Sometimes every other defendant is dismissed from
a case and the industry member stays involved be-
cause they have resources.
The first opinion was issued by a federal district
court judge in the Eastern District of Michigan in
the case of Badder v. Schmidt, 2014 WL 4978474.
One of the Defendants was Generations Funeral
and Cremation Services, Inc. (Generations). Ac-
cording to the facts, the daughter of the Plaintiff
was a drug user that died in someone else’s home
who did not know the Plaintiff was the next of kin
of the deceased. The municipal authorities were
contacted, but did not determine that the Plain-
tiff was the next of kin for over three weeks, even
though there was a paper with the Plaintiff ’s name
in the wallet of the deceased.
that SCI will continue to be involved in this dis-
pute.
There is no guarantee that a business will not
be sued. However, as the author has stated many
times every industry members should continue to
monitor their employees and businesses. Also, it
is important to have proper insurance coverage.
When the Plaintiff was finally contacted she made
arrangements for the remains to be delivered to Gen-
erations for burial. When she requested a viewing,
an employee of Generations indicated she should re-
member her daughter as she was in life and not in
a decomposed state. There was no viewing or burial
and the remains were subsequently cremated by Gen-
erations.
The Plaintiff sued the County, the Medical Exam-
iner’s Office, individual employees and Generations.
The primary issue before the Court involved in this
opinion was whether the municipal and individual
defendants were immune from liability. Generation
apparently was able to get out of the lawsuit though
the reason was not stated in this opinion.
The second opinion was issued by a Florida District
Court of Appeals Judge in the case of SCI Funeral
Services of Florida, Inc. v. Munoz, 146 So.3d 1273
(2014). According to the facts the Plaintiff ’s contact-
ed a funeral home (“Funeral Home”) in Miami, not
related to SCI or the crematory owned by SCI to ar-
range for the shipment of the their son’s remains to
Cuba for a service and burial.
The Funeral Home sent the son’s body to the cre-
matory to be stored in a cooler until the shipping
could occur. At the same time the Funeral Home
had delivered the remains of another person that
were to be cremated. It was alleged that the employ-
ees of the Funeral Home had misidentified the re-
mains on the body tags. The result was the wrong
body was shipped to Cuba and the son’s remains were
cremated. Even though they really were not at fault,
SCI became a defendant. The issue before the Court
was whether SCI could have punitive damages deter-
mined against it. The trial court had ruled that the
Plaintiff could assert punitive damages, but the Ap-
peals Court quashed the Order. However, it appears
sized object, turns the switch on it to the ‘on’ position
and then sticks it to a wall about eye level.
Next, the director displays a sign for everyone to see
that says “Please mute your phones and turn on your
Bluetooth to follow the program from your mobile
device.”
iBeacon – The New Technology for Funeral
Directors in 2015
By Steve Holland
Steve Holland
Picture this: A funeral
director starts their Sat-
urday preparing for their
first funeral of the day.
When the director ar-
rives at the church or the
place where the service is
to be held, the director
pulls out a hockey puck-
When people start to ar-
rive, they do as instruct-
ed, muting their phones
and turning on their
Bluetooth. In a matter of
seconds, a message appears on their mobile phone,
“Welcome to the funeral service. Please tap the link
below to view and follow the program.”
The mourners tap the link and another screen appears
asking if they would like to sign the condolence book.
After that, another screens appears asking everyone to
take their seats because the service is about to begin.
As the service continues, a screen appears contain-
ing the program. When a song is being performed,
the music and lyrics appear on the screen. The same
goes for a poem or a responsive reading.
If the family is accepting donations for a charity or
to help pay for funeral expenses, a button will appear
for people to tap so that contributions can be made
right from their mobile devices.
And at the end of the program, a screen appears giv-
ing instructions for going to the cemetery. The viewer
is given the opportunity to use turn-by-turn naviga-
tion. The director retrieves the hockey puck-sized de-
vice off the wall and turns it off.
Once the director gets back to the office, they can
view all of the phone numbers and contacts they were
able to collect from the service. Later the director can
text out invitations to events, text out a campaign to
give away tickets and promotional items, or text out
holiday messages.
This new technology and more is available to funer-
al directors in 2015. The technology is called iBeacon.
iBeacons allow mobile phones to listen for signals from
beacons in the physical world and react accordingly.
The underlying technology is called Bluetooth Low
Energy, or BLE for short. As the name implies, it’s
designed for low energy consumption and cost, while
maintaining a communication reach similar to that of
classic Bluetooth.