CHARLESTON – A Sissonville man says a funeral home improperly handled his late wife’s body by embalming her when they were specifically told not to do so.
Michael Shabdue Sr. filed his complaint March 10 in Kanawha Circuit Court against S.E. Acquisition of Malden West Virginia Inc. doing business as Stevens & Grass Funeral Home. The funeral home is located in Malden.
According to the complaint, Shabdue’s wife Connie passed away March 7, 2022, so he began making arrangements and spoke to the defendant funeral home. He says he signed for her body to be taken to S&G on the day of her death, and the funeral home agreed to accept her body and didn’t indicate any issues.
Giatras
Shabdue says he wife was very clear throughout her life that she wanted to be cremated and not embalmed, and he says he conveyed those wishes to the funeral home.
“S&G explicitly told plaintiff that nothing could be done to the body without Mr. Shabdue’s permission,” the complaint states.
But, he says the funeral home failed to tell him it wasn’t accepting bodies at the time. Instead, he says her body was sent to Charleston Mortuary Services. But he says he and the family were not notified of this.
The next day, Charleston Mortuary Services embalmed her body.
The following day, the Shabdue family met with S&G to finalize arrangements and entered into a contract to have her cremated. He says the defendant never mentioned it wasn’t in possession of his late wife’s body or that it already had been embalmed. He says it’s unclear if the defendant even was aware it did not have possession of her body.
The next day, the funeral home called the Shabdue’s daughter Angie Hill and told her of the mistake.
The family says it wished to have an autopsy performed on her, but the embalming process rendered the results inconclusive. They say that deprived them of “the closure they rightfully deserved.”
The complaint says S&G did pay for the cost of the autopsy but charged the family for transportation costs to and from Pittsburgh where the autopsy was performed. It also charged for her eventual cremation.
Shabdue says the defendant’s false promises, breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment and incompetence has caused him to suffer emotional distress, exacerbated anguish in an already difficult time, economic loss, annoyance, aggravation and inconvenience.
He seeks compensatory and punitive damages, interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Shabdue is being represented by Troy Giatras and Matthew Stonestreet of the Giatras Law Firm in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Duke Bloom.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-217
