LITTLE ROCK -- A widow who entrusted her husband's body to Arkansas Funeral Care was left with "overwhelming and devastating emotional distress and mental anguish" after opening his casket to the "horrendous, gruesome and appalling sight of her husband's desecrated body," according a lawsuit filed Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
The body of Kenny Alton Smith was clearly decomposing, embalming fluid was present, and a "revolting and obnoxious" odor escaped when an employee of the Jacksonville funeral home allowed Cheryl Cross-Smith to open her husband's casket on the day of his November funeral, according to the lawsuit.
She was allowed to view the body only after insisting her faith required that "sacramental and ceremonious ritual of touching and holding her husband's hand in prayer must be performed before he would pass into heaven," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit is the first since the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors approved the voluntary surrender of licenses belonging to the Jacksonville funeral home and its director, days after an inspection at the business found several violations regarding the storage of bodies.
Arkansas Funeral Care and its founder and funeral director, LeRoy Wood, also were fined $10,000 by the board during a meeting last week in Little Rock and forced to surrender the funeral home's crematory license, effectively closing the facility, which opened in 2006.
Brian Woodruff, a Jacksonville attorney who represented Wood at an emergency hearing held Friday by the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, didn't return a telephone call Monday afternoon seeking a response to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit came the same day state Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr issued an order immediately prohibiting the funeral home from selling prepaid funeral benefits contracts.
Funeral homes selling prepaid funeral benefits contracts in Arkansas must maintain an active license with the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors in order to provide funeral services and funeral merchandise.
"I directed my staff to take possession of all prepaid funeral benefits contracts and account records of Arkansas Funeral Care this morning," Kerr said in a news release.
Those contracts, life insurance and annuity policies, cash, and financial assets and balances of the funeral home arebeing reviewed by the Arkansas Insurance Department, the news release states.
A hearing to consider permanently revoking the funeral home's permit to sell prepaid funeral benefits contracts is set for 10 a.m. Feb. 11 at the department's office at 1200 W. Third St. in Little Rock. Any plans to transfer outstanding contracts to available substitute providers also will be part of the hearing.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Cross-Smith and Linda Bennett, Kenny Alton Smith's mother. They are represented by Harold F. Cook and Whitney B. Murph of the Cook Law Firm and Gregory F. Kitterman of the Kitterman Law Firm, both in Little Rock.
At a news conference Monday afternoon held at Cook and Murph's law office, Murph read a statement from the family.
"Based on recent revelations regarding the Arkansas Funeral Care appalling conduct concerning the care and custody of deceased persons, we know that a number of families will unfortunately be reliving their own horrifying events, similar to those we experienced," she read.
"We continue to pray for those families and hope that closure will occur promptly for all of us."
Smith's family turned to the funeral home after the 53-year-old carpenter died Oct. 30, 2014, from complications of liver failure after he became ill while on a visit to Arkansas from his home in New York and was admitted to UAMS Medical Center, according to the lawsuit.
His body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy the next day, according to the lawsuit.
Bennett went to the funeral home and met with Wood after seeing an advertisement and getting a recommendation from her pastor, Cook said at the news conference.
She signed a contract with the funeral home for $3,233.40, the lawsuit states. The contract called for an open-casket funeral with basic services of the funeral director and staff, including preparation of the body, embalming, use of facilities and staff for visitation and the funeral, transfer of remains to the funeral home, a hearse and utility vehicle, a certified copy of the death certificate, newspaper notices, and "special care of autopsied remains."
The same day, Nov. 4, Smith's body was transferred to the funeral home. Bennett briefly saw her son's body, which "appeared normal, with minimal signs of swelling from surgery-induced trauma," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges between then and the day prior to the funeral, Nov. 7, Smith's body was "severely neglected and abused, not refrigerated and left to decompose." On Nov. 7, a funeral home employee notified Bennett that the casket couldn't be opened for viewing at the funeral.
Bennett, in turn, called Cross-Smith, who immediately called Arkansas Funeral Care and was told the family's wishes for an open-casket funeral couldn't be accommodated because Smith's body had been "left on a slab," leaving Cross-Smith "so overwhelmed with grief she could not continue the conversation," the lawsuit states.
On the day of the funeral, a funeral home employee then called Bennett to request assistance from family members to carry Smith's body from the hearse to the church prior to the funeral service because, the lawsuit states, he didn't "have any help and there [were] not enough employees."
After the funeral, despite numerous telephone calls to discuss the family's dissatisfaction with the funeral services and interment preparations, Cross-Smith never received a response from the funeral home or its director.
The lawsuit accuses the funeral home and Wood of civil negligence, outrage, and negligence under state law governing funeral homes and breach of contract.
The lawsuit contends they failed to adhere to generally accepted industry standards and practices in the care of a body and its preparation for embalming. They also failed to properly dress Smith's body for the funeral, refused to allow an open casket and required family members to assist in transporting the body, all in breach of the contract, the lawsuit states.
"Due to the personal nature of the contract, [Wood and the funeral home] knew or should have known that any breach of his contract with Ms. Bennett would result in emotional distress and mental anguish," according to the lawsuit.
Cook said he and his staff met with the family Saturday and said listening to their story was "heart-rending."
"They're good people, caring Arkansans," he said.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Families who have pending death claims against Arkansas Funeral Care or who may have a death claim on or before Feb. 11, should contact the state insurance department's prepaid funeral benefits staff so they can assist in finding a substitute funeral provider for or on behalf of the consumer, the news release from Kerr's office states.
For customers with no pending death claims but who may desire to cancel their contracts, the news release states, the department intends "to authorize and help administer valid contract transfers subject to the requirements for cancellation requests permitted under prepaid funeral benefits law on or at a reasonable time after the hearing."
Anyone with questions regarding the funeral home's prepaid funeral benefits contracts should call Robert Akers with the state Insurance Department at 501-371-2665.
NW News on 01/27/2015