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Robert and Therese Bellissimo Benedict plan to use the award a jury gave them against the J.S. Waterman & Sons funeral home to start a foundation to help premature babies and their families. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff) |
Jury faults mortuary for losing remains
Awards couple $325,000 in suit over son's missing body
A Suffolk Superior Court jury awarded a Boston couple a total of $325,000 yesterday, ruling that they suffered emotional distress when a city funeral home lost and possibly cremated the remains of their stillborn son.
"We will always wonder where our son is," Robert Benedict said in an interview after the verdict. "It will never bring peace."
The civil verdict by the jury of eight women and six men came after a day and a half of deliberations. Superior Court Judge Paul K. Troy, speaking from the bench after the verdict, called the case a "tragedy" and "heartbreaking."
"There are no winners," he said.
Robert and Therese Bellissimo Benedict said they suffered needlessly because of a mistake by the J.S. Waterman & Sons funeral home in the North End, which is owned by
In an interview yesterday, the Benedicts noted that Service Corporation International trains employees through what the company calls Dignity University, an online program.
"Whoever was on staff when my son was there missed that entire semester at Dignity University," Therese Benedict said. "In some ways, it is a direct correlation to depersonalizing what was once a family-owned business."
The jury found that the funeral home was negligent and caused Robert Benedict emotional distress and awarded him $75,000. The jury awarded Therese Benedict $250,000 after concluding she was subjected to both negligent actions and intentional infliction of emotional harm.
Lisa Marshall, spokeswoman for Service Corporation International, said in a telephone interview that the company regrets the trouble that befell the Benedicts.
"This is not typical of the way our funeral homes operate," she said. "It was a mistake, and we are very sorry about that."
She said the company welcomed the verdict in the hopes that both it and the Benedicts can move on. She declined further comment "out of respect for the Benedicts" because, "We consider this a very personal, private matter."
During the trial, the company's attorney, Joseph Leghorn, acknowledged that the funeral home lost the remains. But he told jurors that the firm took great pains to help the Benedicts after the loss.
Therese Benedict was pregnant with twins when one of them, named Lourdes, was stillborn in April 2003. The couple hired J.S. Waterman to handle the remains that they, as devout Catholics, intended for a religious burial.
The surviving twin, Cole, was hospitalized in Boston, and the couple devoted their time to him while assuming the funeral home would care for Lourdes, according to trial testimony.
Once, Robert Benedict dropped off a blanket, a crucifix, and photographs of the family they expected to be kept with the remains.
The infant's remains were stored in a plastic bag in the home's refrigeration unit, the company acknowledged during the trial, and the Benedicts contended the small gifts they wanted to be kept with Lourdes were never placed with him.
The company told the couple during the summer of 2003 that the remains had been lost, and they eventually concluded they might have been mixed in with the remains of an elderly woman who had been cremated.
At the Benedicts' insistence, the company secured the ashes so they could undergo DNA testing.
The couple's trust was shattered by the loss, they said. They chose to personally direct the search for his remains, including searching the ashes of the cremated woman by hand for bone fragments or a piece of jewelry that was supposed to have been with their son's remains.
"I was hoping for spiritual intervention," Therese Benedict said of the couple's search of the ashes. "The sole purpose [of a mother] is to protect your child in life and in death."
Male DNA was found among the ashes, but that might have been residual DNA from other cremations, said Gordon T. Walker, the couple's lawyer. He said the ultimate cost to Service Corporation International is not yet final. He said the couple still has a pending claim that the company violated the state's consumer protection law, which could lead to a tripling of the damages, plus legal fees.
The couple said they plan to use money from the lawsuit to create a foundation that will help premature babies and their families.
"It was never about the money," Therese Benedict said. "It's about the fact that our son's life, death, mistreatment, and subsequent loss of his body is not in vain."
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
