The manager of Brown Mortuary Service says he is standing behind the findings of the state Department of Licensing when it comes to liability for a 2013 mixup that resulted in a pair of bodies being switched prior to funeral services.
Daniel LaPlaunt, who manages Brown Mortuary and Sticklin Funeral Chapel, responded after an attorney for the family of Jerry Moon filed a lawsuit in Lewis County Superior Court Tuesday.
Dahl McVicker Funeral Home in Kelso was ultimately charged with unprofessional conduct and fined $12,500 for misidentifying the bodies of Jerry D. Moon, 72, Castle Rock, and Robert Petitclerc, 97, Kelso, after an extensive investigation by the state agency.
The error resulted in Moon being cremated while Petitclerc’s body was found inside the casket at Moon’s funeral in Chehalis.
“The fact does abide that we have been exonerated to any guilt according to the Washington State Department of Licensing … Their investigation was extremely thorough,” LaPlaunt said.
While the lawsuit is against both Brown Mortuary and Dahl McVicker, most of the allegations are focused on Brown Mortuary.
LaPlaunt said many claims in the lawsuit are “erroneous.”
“The lawsuit says the mortuary, Brown Mortuary, acted fraudulently and with malice in its handling of Jerry Moon’s body and conspired to cover up the fact that ... Moon … had been mistakenly cremated. That’s a really heinous claim from my perspective,” LaPlaunt said.
The lawsuit stems from an incident when the body of Moon was swapped with the body of Petitclerc. Moon, who died on Oct. 13, 2013, wanted to be embalmed and buried. Petitclerc wanted to be cremated. The mistake was discovered when Moon’s casket was opened at his funeral service and his family and the guests saw that the body in the casket was not Moon’s.
The lawsuit states that Brown Mortuary representatives insisted that the body inside the casket was Moon’s and should be buried in his grave.
LaPlaunt said that claim is a complete fabrication and that employees at the mortuary started making calls to find out what had happened to Moon’s body as soon the mistake was realized at the service.
It further claims the mortuary was provided with more than 60 photographs of Moon in preparation for the funeral service.
“Defendants knew that the wrong body had been delivered to Brown Mortuary and acted in concert to conceal and cover up the error,” the lawsuit accuses.
LaPlaunt said staff at Brown Mortuary had no reason to think that documentation and identification for the body were inaccurate.
He said the family declined to view the body prior to the funeral, and that Moon’s wife told him that her husband didn’t look anything like himself when he died.
The mortuary now requires families to view the body and confirm identification prior to a service.
In April of last year, the Department of Licensing ruled that Dahl McVicker Funeral Home was at fault for mixing up the bodies.
Both men had died at Community Home Health and Hospice in Longview within one hour of each other. Dahl McVicker employee Norm Burns reportedly didn’t put identification bracelets on the men at the facility and later placed the wrong ones on them at the funeral home.
Moon’s body labeled “Robert Petitclerc” went to the Longview Memorial Park Cemetery for cremation, and Petitclerc’s body labeled “Jerry Moon” was transported to Chehalis for funeral preparations.
The Kelso funeral home was charged with unprofessional conduct and fined $12,500. Brown Mortuary and Sticklin Funeral Chapel, where the body was transported, weren’t found to be at fault.
“In our investigation we found they were unaware of the misidentification of the remains and we felt they were not in any violation,” Department of Licensing spokeswoman Christine Anthony said last year. “It would be a violation if they had known. Everything pointed back to Dahl McVicker.”
According to the lawsuit, Jerry Moon had entered a prearranged funeral contract with Brown Mortuary in 1997 for $4,655 for embalming, use of facilities, funeral service, graveside service, transfer of body, hearse use, casket burial and other associated services. Upon his death his body was to be buried in his family plot at Claquato Cemetery in Chehalis.
While making final arrangements for Moon’s funeral, Brown Mortuary charged his wife $8,834, instead of the previously agreed price of $4,655, according to the lawsuit. She was issued a refund check totaling $92.72 after the incident.
LaPlaunt told The Chronicle that prearranged funerals guarantee to cover costs when the death occurs. Money for prearranged funerals are held by a third party, usually an insurance company, that is required to indicate growth of the funds. It is basically a “safeguard” for inflation, he said. The $8,834 was the result of that growth of the original amount.
“It doesn’t cost the family any more,” he said. “... You’re getting today’s service at yesterday’s price for the investment you made.”
He said Brown Mortuary has worked to try to make the situation right and wanted to refund all the money the family had paid since the mortuary couldn’t perform the contracted services. However, attorneys prevented the mortuary from contacting the family.
The plaintiffs are seeking financial accountability from the defendants for emotional distress, financial losses and special damages, damages due to the breach of contract, lawsuit costs, attorney’s fees, exemplary damages to discourage similar future events and any other relief the court determines.
LaPlaunt said he knew the family’s legal firm Briggs & Briggs based in Tacoma would seek money from the mortuary.
“But I didn’t expect them to say that we did something on purpose or overcharged the family or any of that,” LaPlaunt said. “That’s without foundation.”
Lawsuit aside, LaPlaunt said he still feels for the families of those impacted.
“I am just mindful of that dear family,” he said. “Both families involved.”
