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One of the few set of facts you could alleged NIED.
Yep. Several states have specific elements related to funeral NIED because the issue doesn't fit cleanly into older common law theories
What is your venue (NY or NJ)? Did you do a Jury Verdict Search for prior similar settlements and/or verdicts for your specific venue? LexisAdvance for a small fee will also break it down for you in a Report format with pie graphs to boot which can be very helpful when negotiation with the carrier, especially if you tailor the search to your specific venue. Additionally, if you have some time, and want to put your search on steroids, you can also research what are “sustainable” verdicts for your venue (Appellate Division, etc.). My experience is the more quantitative you get with adjusters the better. They can feign disbelief all they want but they can’t ignore documentable verdicts and settlements to the contrary, especially if you can also then prove what you’re positing as the value of the case is also sustainable on appeal. Good Luck!
Check Leagle
Mentor
Interesting. Contract or tort based?
Think this is called unlawful or negligent interference with human remains.
This is a Florida case: https://www.leagle.com/decision/inflco20200311177
Apparently this is more common than I thought?! We just found a bone in our file room from an old case that involved a funeral home allegedly burying bodies in the wrong graves. This is a FL case, but I could check the complaint to see if that is similar to your issue.
Also in NC. Recently dealt with a funeral case where they pled punitive damages, but I’m sure you’ve already considered that. Any medical treatment for depression/anxiety resulting?
There was a 1M verdict in a mishandling case in CA a couple years ago.
There are much bigger verdicts than that. Also if this is not an isolated practice, this can turn into a very lucrative class action case. I hate to mention the name but Avenatti got hundreds of millions on similar cases before ... well, before his ticket was punched.
When I was on the Plaintiff’s side my demands were usually in an amount which reflected the value of the case if all the stars aligned. Put differently, it was in an amount in the top 5% of what I thought the verdict range was. What I wanted to covey was that I was optimistic about my case but not deluded in my evaluation.