Halpin v. Kraeer Funeral Homes, Inc., 88-0660
| Decision Date | 26 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-0660,88-0660 |
| Citation | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 1757,547 So.2d 973 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 1757 Susan C. HALPIN, et al., Appellants, v. KRAEER FUNERAL HOMES, INC., a Florida corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Arnold R. Ginsberg and Stanley M. Sacks, of Horton, Perse & Ginsberg, Miami, for appellants.
Shelley H. Leinicke, of Wicker, Smith, Blomqvist, Tutan, O'Hara, McCoy, Graham & Lane, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.
This is an appeal of the trial court's granting of appellee's motion for summary judgment as to appellants' claims for compensatory and punitive damages.
Appellants made arrangements with appellee to conduct the funeral and cremation of the remains of Donald C. Halpin, Jr. When the family arrived for the viewing, they saw that the body in the casket was not Mr. Halpin. Appellee's employees attempted to convince the family that it was Mr. Halpin. After some discussion, the family was asked to go to dinner while appellee sought to locate Mr. Halpin's remains. When the family returned to the funeral home, the casket contained Mr. Halpin's body, but the family was not satisfied with his appearance.
We reverse. Whether or not appellants are entitled to compensatory and punitive damages are factual questions to be determined by the trier of fact. It is axiomatic that the granting of a motion for summary judgment cannot stand where there is a disputed genuine issue of a material fact.
Tortious interference with rights involving dead human bodies is excluded from the "impact" rule which normally governs causes of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Kirksey v. Jernigan, 45 So.2d 188 (Fla.1950); Strachan v. John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, 109 N.J. 523, 537, 538 A.2d 346, 353 (1988) ().
As to the compensatory damages claim, if the wrongful acts are such as to reasonably imply malice, or where, from the entire want of care of attention to duty, or great indifference to the persons, property or rights of others, malice can be imputed, a cause of action will lie. Sherer v. Rubin Memorial Chapel, Ltd., 452 So.2d 574 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). Malicious conduct is proven if the acts complained of would arouse resentment by an average member of the community, leading him or her to exclaim "outrageous." Smith v. Telophase National Cremation Society, Inc., 471 So.2d...
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Williams v. City of Minneola
...§ 868; Kirksey v. Jernigan, 45 So.2d 188 (Fla.1950); Dunahoo v. Bess, 146 Fla. 182, 200 So. 541 (1941); Halpin v. Kraeer Funeral Homes, Inc., 547 So.2d 973 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), rev. den., 557 So.2d 35 (Fla.1990); Smith v. Telophase National Cremation Society, Inc., 471 So.2d 163 (Fla. 2d DC......
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Gonzalez v. Metropolitan Dade County Public Health Trust, 92-1462
...recent Florida cases and the Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 868 (1979). The cases cited by appellants, Halpin v. Kraeer Funeral Homes, Inc., 547 So.2d 973 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), rev. denied, 557 So.2d 35 (Fla.1990), Williams v. City of Minneola, 575 So.2d 683 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, ......
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Judin v. L.M. Park, Inc.
...3d DCA 1964), cert. denied, 174 So.2d 32 (Fla.1965); compare Kirksey v. Jernigan, 45 So.2d 188 (Fla.1950); Halpin v. Kraeer Funeral Homes, Inc., 547 So.2d 973 (Fla. 4th DCA1989), rev. denied, 557 So.2d 35 ...
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Sexton v. Carnival Corp.
...home dressed the wrong cadaver and then tried to convince the family that the cadaver was their loved one); Halpin v. Kraeer Funeral Homes, Inc., 547 So.2d 973 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (reversing summary judgment in favor of defendant funeral home where the wrong body was placed in thecasket for......