Crematorium sued over mixed-up ashes

Kim Smith

Wednesday, May 24, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

A Florida resident is suing the Nevada Memorial Cremation Society claiming that not only did the company hold her brother's remains ransom, but when they finally mailed them to her they weren't even his.

According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of Corinne Rohrbaugh, "Nevada Memorial Cremation Society's conduct was extreme, outrageous and transcended all bounds of decency and was appalling and intolerable in a civilized community."

Virginia Embry, a funeral director with the company, declined to comment on the suit Tuesday, saying she had yet to receive it.

Richard Rohrbaugh's remains were taken to the company to be cremated after he died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in October 1998. Corinne Rohrbaugh asked that his remains be shipped to her so she could bury her brother during a military funeral in January 1999.

However, the company, which was doing business as the Nevada Funeral Service, repeatedly refused to ship the remains, claiming the company hadn't been paid for its services, the lawsuit states.

When Rohrbaugh finally received the remains Jan. 11, she discovered a label saying the ashes were those of Ray E. Hungerford, a Texas resident who lived in Nevada part-time, said Las Vegas attorney Richard Dreitzer.

Hungerford's widow, Anita Hungerford, was unaware of the mix-up until Rohrbaugh's Florida attorney contacted her, Dreitzer said. She thought her husband, who died Christmas Eve 1998 at Desert Springs Hospital, had been sent to Fort Sam Houston in Texas.

When Rohrbaugh called the company, she was told "the ashes have to be here someplace," and when Hungerford called she was told there had been a mix-up, but did not receive an apology, the lawsuit states.

Ultimately, both women received other remains, and those remains were interred.

"I'm amazed that in this day and age this type of thing is still going on," Dreitzer said. "And the most horrible thing about it is that these ladies will never know if they got the right ashes back. I'm told that forensically, there is no way for them to tell."

Hungerford, who was married to her husband for 50 years, has joined in the lawsuit, Dreitzer said. The women are seeking unspecified damages for breach of contract, outrageous conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent handling of a corpse.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com.