In Lawrence, Massachusetts, a family is suing the Perez Funeral Home, Bellevue Cemetery and the city of Lawrence after their deceased loved one fell out of the casket as it was being lowered into the grave.
The Eagle-Tribunereported the casket was dropped into a grave, broke open and the corpse fell out. The body was seen "oozing fluid," which caused family members to become hysterical.
Family members of the late Andrew Serrano, a resident of Puerto Rico and Lawrence who died on March 29, 2019, filed a lawsuit with the Essex Superior Court for several counts of negligence and negligent and reckless infliction of emotional distress.
A Massachusetts family whose loved one's casket fell open as it was being lowered into a grave, causing the body to fall out, sued the funeral home and cemetery. https://t.co/sOiBI0RQom
— NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington) November 11, 2021
Following Serrano's death, the family contacted Perez Funeral Home and the burial took place April 5, 2019.
The lawsuit states:
"One of the side straps on the city-owned casket lowering device broke, causing Mr. Serrano's casket to fall into the grave and break apart."
""When the casket broke apart, Mr. Serrano's corpse fell out of the casket into the grave and began oozing fluid [in front of the] horrified family members who became visibly distraught and hysterical."
It was noted several family members "leapt into the grave" to care for the body, which was ultimately brought back to the funeral home and properly buried a few days later.
Those named in the lawsuit include the city of Lawrence, E & J Memorial Services, Inc. doing business as Perez Funeral Home, Bellevue Cemetery Board of Trustees and Bellevue Cemetery Board of Directors.
A Massachusetts family whose loved one's casket fell open as it was being lowered into a grave, causing the body to fall out, has sued the funeral home and the cemetery.https://t.co/rGOc96ibAH
— ABC6 News Desk (@ABC6) November 10, 2021
In the lawsuit filed by Methuen attorney Danilo Gomez, it states they are seeking $50,001 at least in damages caused to the family.
As tragic as this is, many people immediately drew parallels to a sketch from the Netflix comedy series I Think You Should Leave.
In the sketch, the head of fictional network corncob TV rails against Spectrum cable for dropping his network over his "reality" television show Coffin Flop.
You can see the sketch here:
On social media, most of the reactions referenced the fictional program.
Should have recorded it and put it on Coffin flop! pic.twitter.com/tyBqAOTuQ8
— Bun jamin (@Pizza_slaughter) November 10, 2021
Coffin Flop is back on the air. https://t.co/D4XNewweaR
— prairie goblin (@harvest_goth) November 11, 2021
They're saying it's impossible that many dead bodies are falling out of coffins everyday. And it's impossible that one out of every five of the are nude.
— Joshua Kipers (@JKipers) November 11, 2021
I don't know what to tell you bud! We're just shooting funerals and showing the ones where the bodies fly out. https://t.co/ntxczp8yhj
— Sydney Bauer (@femme_thoughts) November 11, 2021
Sounds like Coffin Flop is a real show after all. #ITYSL https://t.co/YP4inEmU6H
— ChadCham (@ChadCham) November 11, 2021
@levy_sir
Bob pulls one last gag.https://t.co/VHYoJg8LOU
— Joe Shmoe (@ashlegion) November 11, 2021
@brink1234 a real life coffin flop
— Devin (@didericksen) November 11, 2021
That would be terrible. About a 20% chance of that happening.
— Devin (@didericksen) November 11, 2021
Thankfully, we won't be seeing this family's trauma on Coffin Flop.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC