Burial mistake prompts suit

The family wants a jury to decide if the diocese inflicted emotional distress.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A family is suing the cemeteries of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown in hopes of finding where a relative is really buried.
Edna Carder of Fort Myers, Fla., formerly of Youngstown, and her children, Sherry and Joe Lantz, both of Youngstown, filed the suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
It asks for a jury trial to determine if agents of the diocese intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress on the family by misidentifying the grave of Carder's son and the Lantzes' brother, Patrick, who died in 1974.
In 1999, following the death of their father, Sherry and Joe made arrangements to have their brother and sister moved from the children's section of Calvary Cemetery on Belle Vista Avenue to either side of their father.
Found the problem
Their sister was moved without incident, but cemetery workers and the Lantzes found a mistake had been made when Patrick was originally buried.
According to records with the company that provided the gravemarker, Patrick was buried in section 40, plot 1440; cemetery records, however, say he was actually buried in plot 1455.
At the time of the move, the Lantzes wanted the diocese to prove the identity of the body moved through DNA testing. The siblings said the diocese instructed them to have the testing done, and if it showed it was not Patrick, they would be reimbursed for half of the costs.
The testing was never done because the family could not afford the $5,000 cost. The family said the diocese should have paid for the testing up front because it made the mistake in the first place.
"We just want them to make things right after all this time," Joe Lantz said.
The Lantzes and Carder filed a similar claim in November 2000, but voluntarily dismissed it in June 2001, with the right to refile.
The new suit contends the "Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Youngstown was so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency" by negligently and intentionally failing to notify the family of Patrick's true burial spot.
Joe Kun, cemeteries director, said he had not seen the lawsuit. "Basically, though, we will let the courts determine the outcome," he said.
No trial date has been set.
slshaulis@vindy.com