Dominican family sues funeral home for $16 million over mistaken cremation

A Dominican family has filed a $16 million lawsuit against the R.G. Ortiz funeral home in Washington Heights, New York, alleging a series of grievous errors that culminated in the mistaken cremation of their father's body. The family sought to bid farewell to José Daniel Díaz Felipe, known as "Danielito," in May, but their grief turned to shock and distress upon discovering the body in the open casket was not their father's.

According to the lawsuit, family members were met with resistance when they pointed out the discrepancies. José Luis Díaz, the deceased's son, told Telemundo 47 that funeral home staff insisted the man in the casket was their father, despite clear physical differences. The family noted the man in the casket was significantly taller and had hair, while their father was bald and 5 feet 3 inches tall. The funeral home allegedly claimed a mix-up occurred because they received bodies of two individuals with the same name.

"It was cruel. They forced us to interact with another body," Díaz stated. The family further alleges that after the funeral service, the funeral home admitted to cremating their father's remains days earlier, preventing them from seeing his body or saying a proper goodbye. The family's lawyer, Philip Rizzuto, believes the funeral home knew of the error and attempted to cover it up. The lawsuit claims the family suffered severe "mental, psychological, and traumatic damages, including great mental pain and suffering."

This is not the first time R.G. Ortiz funeral home has faced scrutiny. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had previously sued the establishment following approximately 50 complaints. These complaints reportedly concerned the condition of deceased individuals' remains and alleged misrepresentations or concealment of service prices.