Family sues after funeral home switches corpses Lawyer: ‘He was afraid of cremation. … He wanted to be buried.’

Jerry Moon, pictured in a family photo. Jerry Moon, pictured in a family photo. Photo: Courtesy Of The Family Of Jerry Moon Photo: Courtesy Of The Family Of Jerry Moon Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Family sues after funeral home switches corpses 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

When Jerry Moon’s relatives opened his casket in October 2013, they expected a last look at the 72-year-old railroad conductor before they laid him to rest at a southwest Washington state cemetery.

Instead, they found a stranger -- Robert Petitclerc – with plastic wrapped around his head.

“It was horrifying,” said Shawn Briggs, an attorney representing Moon’s family in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against two mortuaries that mishandled Moon’s remains.

The family would later learn Moon had been cremated following a mix-up at a Kelso funeral home, which was supposed to hold his body until it could be shipped to Brown Mortuary in Chehalis, a small city located 90 miles south of Seattle.

The mistake was doubly troubling, Briggs said, because Moon, a longtime Castle Rock resident, had taken pains in the last years of his life to ensure he wouldn’t be cremated.

“He was afraid of cremation,” Briggs said. “He had religious beliefs that were inconsistent with cremation. …

“He had very specific desires as to how his body would be handled, and he personally made the arrangements. He wanted to be buried.”

Moon’s family has filed a lawsuit in Lewis County Superior Court claiming Brown Mortuary and the Kelso funeral home, Dahl McVicker Funeral Home, were negligent in their handling of Moon’s remains. Brown Mortuary’s owner – Houston-based funeral home giant Service Corporation International – is the lead defendant in the matter.

A spokeswoman for Service Corporation International declined to comment on the allegations, asserting it would be "inappropriate to share any details about this situation."

Born in Chehalis, Moon spent most of his life in Southwest Washington. Moon, a father and stepfather to six, worked for 28 years as a conductor on at Weyerhaeuser Railroad.

Chronically ill in his final years, Moon began arranging for his funeral 16 years before he died on Oct. 13, 2013 at a Longview hospice.

Following Moon’s death, the Brown Mortuary hired the Kelso funeral home to maintain his remains until he could be moved north. Moon’s family planned to inter him at Claquato Cemetery in Chehalis.

According to the lawsuit, though, Moon and Petitclerc were switched at the Kelso funeral home.

Petitclerc was embalmed, dressed in Moon’s clothes, put in Moon’s casket and shipped to Moon’s funeral. Moon was cremated on Oct. 17, four days after his death.

Moon’s family discovered the mistake during the funeral service. Briggs said they have yet to learn why a plastic bag had been placed over Petitclerc’s face.

Though Moon’s family had paid nearly $9,000 for the funeral services, his widow received only a $93 refund check from Service Corporation International.

“Instead of being treated with dignity, our family was demeaned and denied the opportunity to honor my father and lay him to rest according to his wishes,” Moon’s son Brian Moon said in a statement.

Briggs said his clients hope the lawsuit will get the attention of Brown Mortuary’s parent company.

That firm, Service Corporation International, is one of several national mortuary operators in the business of buying up family-owned funeral homes and run them under their existing names. Critics accuse the firms of gouging grieving families while pushing to limit competition in the industry or funeral alternatives.

Briggs said the Moon’s family wants to hope Service Corporation International accountable.

“They were all born and raised here in Lewis County, and they just don’t want anything like this to happen to their neighbors or anyone else in their community,” Briggs said.

No specific money demand has been made.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.