No Cause of Action Against Cemetery for Lost Body
A family paid for their father’s internment when he died in 2001. When one of the decedent’s children was unable to locate his gravesite in 2016, it was discovered that there was no record of their father’s burial despite a contract with the cemetery.
A cause of action for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, unjust enrichment, gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraudulent concealment was brought by the family in 2019. The Trial Court granted Defendant’s Motion for Summary Disposition primarily based upon the appropriate statute of limitations. Plaintiff family appealed.
In the unpublished opinion of Diane Dixon-Brown and Rebecca Thomas v. Covenant Cemetery Services, the Michigan Court of Appeals cited the six (6) year statute of limitations promulgated by MCL §600.5807(9) for contract actions and the three (3) year statute of limitations pursuant to MCL §600.5805(2) for negligence actions. The COA held that the latter did not apply. The COA agreed with the ruling of the Trial Court, holding that the claims accrued at the time of the wrongdoing (2001) regardless of when discovery occurred.
Plaintiffs also argued that Defendant’s fraudulent concealment permitted a two (2) year tolling of the negligence cause of action pursuant to MCL §600.5855. The Court disagreed. Plaintiffs were unable to prove the Defendant committed an affirmative act or misrepresentation to conceal the existence of the claim from Plaintiffs. The COA opined that even if Plaintiffs could prove fraudulent concealment, they were still beyond the two (2) year extension of time permitted by the cited statute since decedent’s body was discovered missing in 2016.
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