PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County man alleges that a North Braddock cemetery did not properly execute a burial arrangement for his deceased wife and a future one for himself, and that the company ignored repeated requests to correct its mistake.
Charles Davis II filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on March 17 versus Braddock Cemetery Company, of North Braddock.
“On March 31, 2020, the defendant deeded to the plaintiff two burial lots known as graves C and D, Section 5, in the Veteran’s Area. The plaintiff made this purchase for a grave for himself and his wife, Myra F. Davis, who died on March 26, 2020 following a long and difficult illness from cancer and other disheartening medical difficulties. The defendant knew or should have known that it is established tradition that the wife’s burial should be to the husband’s left,” the suit says.
“In addition, plaintiff's expectation that this would be done was made known to the defendant and made the basis of the parties’ bargain. Alternatively, this arrangement of wife being buried to husband’s left is simply a practice followed throughout the cemetery industry. Accordingly, the said deceased spouse, Myra, was buried by defendant in grave D in anticipation that upon his death, plaintiff would be buried to her right in grave C, and thus, Myra would be correctly buried to plaintiff’s left.”
The suit continues that after the burial, however, it appeared that the space to Myra’s right was already occupied by another “Mrs. Smith.”
“This conflict of spacing could only be noticed by plaintiff after Myra’s burial. Plaintiff brought his concerns to the notice of defendant, and was essentially repeatedly ignored. Plaintiff then had the undersigned attorney send defendant a letter dated Sept. 21, 2020 to explore a mutual and amicable solution to this problem. Again, defendant essentially ignored this request,” the suit states.
“Plaintiff then contacted an individual who employed a very simple and inexpensive way to ascertain if there was someone actually buried in grave C, by hammering a long spike into the ground. It was then confirmed that plaintiff’s grave C is indeed occupied by another burial vault, presumably the said Mrs. Smith. Again, this was brought to the defendant’s attention by the undersigned [in a second letter dated June 16, 2022] in an attempt to secure an amicable solution, and again this request was ignored. Again, this request has been ignored.”
For a count of improper burial, the plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief to correct the ownership and burial of the plaintiff and his spouse as originally agreed, and as traditionally proper, punitive damages due to defendant’s horrid and outrageous failure to even explore a solution of the problem it created by its mistake, attorney’s fees, interest, costs and such other relief as the court may deem just.
The plaintiff is represented by Gary Kalmeyer of Kalmeyer & Kalmeyer, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-23-003682
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com