A Michigan family intends to sue a funeral company that was meant to cremate their mother’s remains after a viewing but instead cremated her before the viewing.
Rhonda Hollis, 42, died abruptly on November 23, and her grieving family has set a visitation for December 17 at Fisher Funeral Home. Her cremation was set to take place later.
However, on December 12, just days before the Hollis family was to say their final goodbyes and see their loved one for the last time, they received a call from the funeral home’s owner informing them that Hollis’ remains had already been cremated by mistake.
Members of the Hollis family told Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ that the news simply added to their sadness. Rhonda’s mother, Kathy Hollis, received the phone call from Mike Fisher.
She claimed, “We received a call on December 12th from Mr. Mike Fisher informing us that her remains had been burned. And I questioned him: how could her body be burned if we hadn’t had the service yet? And he said that one of his employees inadvertently incinerated her.”
WXYZ inquired with the funeral home regarding Hollis’ cremation date, which was December 4. The family was reportedly not alerted until December 12, more than a week later.
Saijae Hollis, Hollis’ daughter, told WXYZ, “I’m supposed to be at a viewing looking at my mom and I can’t.” She stated, “We were hoping that we would be able to give her her final homegoing, make sure she looked nice, and simply send her out, so that the family could say their final goodbyes and we could deal from there. But it didn’t happen that way.”
Fisher Funeral Home sent a written statement to WXYZ, describing the mistake as “a very unfortunate situation.” They stated, “Due to an error, a person who was meant to be cremated following a memorial service was incinerated before loved ones could gather for a service.
We quickly apologized to the family and understood why they were offended. This does not reflect the care that we provide to our community, and we truly regret that it has occurred. We have been serving Southeast Michigan for almost 70 years. Nothing like this has ever happened before or will happen again.”
The Hollis family hired attorney Ivan Land, who stated that they want to sue Fisher Funeral Home for breach of contract, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of mental distress.
Land said WXYZ, “You can’t make a mistake while dealing with a loved one who has died. There is zero tolerance. “You can’t make a mistake.”
