Practice Management

Okay, it sounds a little morbid, but people in a time of grief expect that their deceased loved ones are treated correctly and respectfully. After all, who should disrespect the dead?

Many personal injury lawyers and trial lawyers venture into this niche as part of their broader practice, but it could, and should, be a niche practice in and of itself. It has all of the makings of an identifiable practice niche that will naturally attract clients.

The law actually covers funeral homes, cremations and cemeteries.

People look to these service providers for peace of mind and the last thing they need are unscrupulous acts or negligence by these providers.

A number of things can and do go wrong. The wrong body is cremated. Bodies are stored incorrectly. Bodies are improperly embalmed. Multiple bodies or the wrong body placed in the coffin. Body parts removed and sold. Grave sites are vandalized or are not kept up properly. The theft of personal property. The discovery of work performed by unlicensed individuals and companies. Abuse can also occur in the selling of pre-need contracts.

Henry E. Gare, Bisnar/Chase, Travis Ware, and David Smith and Edmund Schmidt, offer but some of the practice sites on this subject.

For example, there was a post on Funeral Consumers Alliance where the FTC found that one in four funeral homes are breaking the law by not giving consumers a printed itemized price list.

In 2007 InjuryBoard.Com reported on a jury awarding $400,000 in a funeral home negligence case.

As indicated in a Law.Com article, funeral homes obviously have insurance to cover these issues.

A lawsuit was filed in January, 2010 when relatives found their deceased family member's brain in a bag of her personal affects.

Also, on the other side of the docket it is important to note that the funeral home industry is highly regulated. That means lots of opportunity for lawyers on both sides.

The bottom line is that, intentional or not, these bad things happen all of the time. It can only make someone feel good to help handle the grief of individuals harmed by funeral home abuse. It is such a specialized market you can stand out as the expert in the field and draw referrals and clients with less effort.

Is it not worth your further investigation?