Burial (some overlap with autopsy)

1. Wolf v. Rose Hill Cemetery Association
   

   914 P. 2d 468 (Colorado Ct. of Appeals)

   • Plaintiff allowed to disinter and bury loved one elsewhere even though Cemetery asserted that it is not allowed under Jewish law.


2. Weiss v. Cedar Park Cemetery
   

   240 N.J. Super. 86, 572 A. 2d 662 (1990)

   • Woman who buried her non-Jewish father in plot was allowed because she had ownership even though cemetery was for Jews.


3. Cannon v. Edgar
   

   33 F. 3rd 880 (7th Cir. 1994)

   • The Illinois Burial Rights Act which demanded interment even during labor negotiations if burial was religiously mandated is struck down. It is preempted by the NLRA.


4. Katz v. Westlawn Cemetery Association
   

   673 N.E. 2d 1053, 220 Ill. Dec. 632 (Ill. App. 1996)

   • Woman who couldn't bury mother within 24 hrs required by Orthodox Jewish law was preempted from suing because the cemetery was under a union strike lockout and was thus governed by the NLRA which preempted the claim.


5. Brown v. Canfield Board Of Zoning Appeals
   

   123 Ohio App. 3d 442, 704 N.E.2d 335 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997), Case No. 95 C.A. 219. Dated October 28, 1997. Opinion by J. Gene Donofrio. Dissenting, J. Edward A. Cox.

   • Jewish congregation, which owned cemetery running out of space, wished to purchase adjacent lot so as to increase the number of available burial plots and expand the parking area to alleviate traffic problems during funerals; the adjacent lot was zoned for single family residential use and a variance was necessary; held, the congregation was not entitled to the variance because it could not show unnecessary hardship; a finding of unnecessary hardship must relate to the property for which the variance is sought; Ohio law.


6. Bratt v. Cohn
   

   969 S.W.2d 277 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998), WD 54265. Dated June 2, 1998. Opinion by J. James M. Smart, Jr.

   • Cemetery operated by synagogue which never elected to be governed by the Cemetery Endowed Care Fund Law of Missouri was not subject to regulation as an endowed care cemetery simply because it established a fund for perpetual care; Missouri law.


7. Mark v. Congregation Mishkon Tefiloh
   

   745 A.2d 777 (R.I. 2000)

   • Decedent purchased from synagogue two grave sites; when decedent died it was discovered that the gravesite that had been reserved for him was not available, having been resold by the congregation; inasmuch as decedent had to be buried expeditiously in accordance with the tenets of the Jewish faith, an alternative grave site outside the confines of the Congregation's section of the cemetery was purchased by the family; subsequently, decedent's widow also died and was buried next to her husband at the alternative grave site; in action against the congregation and the cemetery association, the court refused to dismiss plaintiff executors' claim for punitive damages or to strike the claim pending a evidentiary hearing in which plaintiffs would have the burden of establishing a prima facie case of entitlement to punitive damages; Rhode Island law.

DISCLAIMER