Heartbroken Family Sues 'Reckless' Mortuary For 'Wrongful Cremation'

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A grieving family is suing a mortuary for what they claim was "wrongful cremation" because they believe it happened.

The family of Joann Stephens is suing Eastlake Mortuary in Phoenix, Arizona, on the basis that they unlawfully cremated her remains.

A breach of contract, negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress are all claimed in the lawsuit, which was submitted on Monday (February 27).

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Her body was reported "intentionally, recklessly, or negligently mutilated or operated" on by mortuary personnel, preventing its appropriate burial, according to their allegations.

They claim that they received an apology and a refund but no account of what went wrong.

They add that they don't know for sure if the remains are even hers because they didn't get any identity papers.

To transport and keep Stephens' remains, who had passed away in November of last year at the age of 86, they had paid the mortuary.

According to her wishes, the funeral home provided embalming, dressing and hairstyling, makeup, and a casket for viewing in addition to arranging for the viewing and memorial ceremony to be held at a nearby church.

Upon their arrival, they were informed of the error and were told that her body had been mistakenly cremated.

Her son Jason Glenn said: “We’ve just been a bag of emotions here. We didn’t know how in the world something like that could go wrong. You really don’t know how to respond to something like that.”

Family members were already flying in from different states expecting to attend an open-casket funeral for Stephens, who was a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Glenn said. “It was very difficult to tell all the grandkids that they won’t see their grandmother,” he said.

Ever since his mother was “mistakenly” cremated, Glenn said it’s been a “roller coaster of emotions.” “How do you get closure with all of this?” he said.