Just watched a story on Channel 4 news of a widow suing Resthaven over a stain in front of her late husband's crypt

The corpse next to her husband apparently exploded in his coffin and fluid escaped onto the ground in front of the shared crypt.

She is now suing Resthaven for over $5,000,000 for mental anguish or whatever...But she stated it isn't about the money

Resthaven offered the widow a $3,000 bench in front of the crypt as a peace offering, but apparently that isn't enough for a freakin stain not even on her husband's crypt!!

I'm sure it was unsettling to see that, but yet another unreal lawsuit not about the money...Is this a great state or what??

Easy -- not to worry, unless there are extreme facts which we do not know about, then this lady has no case. I'm honestly surprised she found a lawyer to represent her in something like that.

This will never even make it to trial. The facts as I see them don't even makea minimal case for the tort she's probably claiming "Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress" as they call it.

The defense will file what they call a Motion for Summary Judgment,in other words, the defense will file a motion that says that even if the plaintiff's facts are all true, there's still no legal argument through which they could prevail. I'll give 100:1 odds that this thing never sees trial.

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I'm sorry--I can't get past the "the corpse next to her husband apparently exploded in his coffin" part...WOW.

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midtowner...probably won't surprise you who is representing her...Mike Gassoway (sp?)...the man's on tv more than the news anchors


Shouldn't the family of the exploding corpse have a much better case than one who is distraught by a stain near her husband's crypt??

Gassoway is claiming they improperly sealed the coffin or something lame like that

I read a website http://mausoleumproblems.homestead.com/intro.html about this problem.

It makes sense. I enjoy watching programs on forensic science (although I like it, I am not refering to "Quincy M.E."). I have heard coroners speak of this during the investigations of deaths inwhich the deceadant has been dead for several days or weeks. It is a liquid "goo" that protrudes from the decomposing remains.

This woman may or may not have a case. I will wait for the evidence if we hear it.

BTW. I would hire Mike Gassaway as my attorney any day. He is sharp and not affraid to take the unusual cases. Plus his name alone is clout.

I thought Gassaway was in jail for being a pervert. Last time I heard, he had been arrested for sexual misconduct. I must be behind times.

Gassaway is not in jail. Charges are still pending. In person, he's a decently nice guy. As much as a blowhard as he is on TV, judges do no respect him, he's not all that great when it comes to the law, and he is VERY abusive with female clients. I don't doubt the sexual charges for a moment.

A few years ago, Mr. Gassaway was disbarred for tax evasion. When it came time to reapply to the bar (he had a 5 year ban), he reapplied. Oklahoma took him, and to this day, the federal bench still has not.

Ethically, the guy is the lowest of the low. He's a very poor representation of the profession.

As far as his case, I'd have to have more of a familiarity with the case before I could tell you definitively whether he has a potential case or not. The guy, however, has been known to take cases simply to get some publicity. From what I have read about this case, however, it doesn't appear as Mr. Gassaway's client has much of a cause of action.

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I understand the news story didn't detail all the evidence, but it showed the fluid stain on the concrete in front of the crypt and explained she was distraught over the sight of it

I don't care if the fluid actually leaked into her husbands space....suing for over $5,000,000 takes away any credibility...Ridiculous

Gassaway and others of his breed need to understand that accidents do happen..or is everything in the world done intentionally in lawyers minds??

Easy, like I said, he will most likely lose the case. He likely fronted court costs because he knew the case would get him a lot of free publicity. However, I doubt his contract allows for him to have to pay the defendant's attorney's fees when defendant's motion to dismiss and motion for attorney's fees are granted.

Be aware that stupid lawsuits like this are not the norm, and that for about $200, one can file any sort of civil action he or she wishes to.

Whether or not it's going to go anywhere is decided fairly quickly. I wager this thing goes down on a motion for summary judgment and never makes it to trial. Yes, accidents do happen. Unless a) the Plaintiff can prove that the Defendant's negligence caused the 'explosion,' and b) Plaintiff can prove damages, (and even maybe a c) that the breach was intentional, malicious, etc.), then I don't think Gassaway has a chance.

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This case is absolutely ridiculous. I read it in the paper today, and was cracking up. Whatever.

But Patrick...You couldn't see the tears and sobbing of the widow in the paper

Gassaway coaches em up real well for the boob tube

Reading over Anderson's article, it appears that this is something which can occur even in the absence of negligence. A torts claim consists of 4 elements (this is VASTLY simplified):

1) Defendant must have a certain duty towards Plaintiff;
2) There must be a breach of that duty;
3) Defendant must be determined to be the proximate cause of that breach; and finally,
4) There must be damages resultant of that breach.

I think you have a difficult time laying out 1 & 2. Decomposition, even in the face of proper embalming practices will occur. That decomposition leads up to the body decomposing and sometimes creating a high-pressure buildup of volatile gasses within the tomb. It is not unheard of for those gasses to build up to a point, and then explode in a violent manner.

There are approximately 25-30 gallons of liquid in the human body. Imagine how much gas will be created as the bacteria of the body gradually break it down over a period of months. This is not so much an issue below ground. The surrounding pressure of the dirt is helpful to holding these pressures in, and if they do leak, they have somewhere to go. When the body is stored above ground, however, there have been documented cases of exploding tombs damagin marble, other tombs, spraying decomposing fluids, and even injuring people when parts of tombs became shrapnel.

At any rate, to show that the defendant here was the proximate cause for the manner in which the body decayed is a huge stretch.

The 5 million dollar damage estimate is a Plaintiff lawyer's way to gain leverage with a weak case. A squeamish insurance company might be tempted to settle for a much lower figure and live to fight another day.

On a side note, one "tort reform" which I would love to see happen would be for each insurance claim and payout to be reviewed and approved by a judge in order to stop frivolous claims from being paid out. I think the judge must first make the determination that the plaintiff even had a case for an injury to begin with. That would stop what is a possibility in this lawsuit -- that is for the insurance company to offer Gassaway's client an 'undisclosed sum,' as hush money to make this go away, and to limit their risk.

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not to be discovered

SM Judge for yoursel:

Prominent attorney arrested

-- All I know is what I read in the papers - Will Rogers.

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not to be discovered

not one

Content removed by me.

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no

no

SM: Good luck with your case. I'm not going to say any more on this subject. If you want to talk about the merits of the exploding coffin lawsuit, fine. I'm not able to recommend a lawyer, or even how you might go about finding one.

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no

Huh?

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