Mortuary Sued Over Small Casket

The widow’s wish was simple enough: Josie Freeman wanted a dignified funeral for her husband, Clarence, who died after a six-year battle with cancer.

She paid $5,320.95 to Angelus Funeral Home for a York Majestic brand bronze-and-steel casket lined with white satin for her 6-foot-9 husband.

The widow was assured that things would be done right when Angelus representatives said they had handled arrangements for Ennis Cosby, who also required a casket that was longer than normal.

But just before the funeral was set to begin, Freeman felt something was terribly wrong. When a worker opened the casket at her request, she got the surprise of her life.

To her “horror, shock and mortification,” according to the lawsuit she filed against Angelus, Clarence had been forced into a coffin five inches shorter than his height, with his legs bent at a 45-degree angle to fit.

So far, Angelus’ lawyers have refused comment on the case except to state that the South-Central Los Angeles funeral home disputes the charges made by the Freeman family, denies any wrongdoing and looks forward to vindication.

But that task was made more difficult Wednesday, when a judge upheld the Freeman claim and ordered Angelus to respond to the family’s charges.

“If the allegations prove true, the funeral home would have violated accepted industry practice,” said Bill Vlcek, a spokesman for the California Assn. of State Funeral Directors. “We recommend that if there’s a problem with placing a body into a casket, a funeral home should go to a larger casket.”

Freeman’s lawyer was blunt.

“This case is about consumer fraud,” said lawyer David Wood. “They specifically asked for an extra-long casket, they were promised they would get one, and the funeral home failed to deliver.”

Wood said the widow told him that her “hope and prayer” is “that no other family has to go through this.”

When Freeman went to the Angelus home on Feb. 15, she was assured a proper casket would be found so her husband could “rest in peace,” according to the suit.

Several days later, Freeman met with Angelus officials again, according to the lawsuit. She was again “told, assured, promised and guaranteed . . . there would be no problem in obtaining such a casket.”

After a “viewing” for friends and family at the Angelus home on Feb. 19, the casket containing Clarence Freeman’s body was shipped to the Washington Memory Gardens in Homewood, Ill., for burial.

When the dead man’s wife asked to open the casket, the complaint said, she saw “her husband’s body lying in a “45-degree angle, his legs crossed, and his feet pushed up so as to fit his six-foot-nine-inch body into an obviously undersized casket,” according to the lawsuit.