A devastated widow has filed a lawsuit against a cemetery in New Jersey, United States, after her beloved husband was allegedly interred in the incorrect burial plot. Debra Poller claims that the cemetery mistakenly buried her 69-year-old husband, Alan, in a neighboring plot instead of the family gravesite she had purchased following his death on November 30. The lawsuit was filed last week and obtained by NJ.com.
Poller stated that she only discovered the cemetery's alarming error on December 3. She has criticized the burial site for failing to act with “reasonable care and skill” when it entombed her husband, a Hungarian immigrant who arrived in the United States at the age of 17 in 1973. According to the lawsuit and his obituary, this mistake has added to her already intense emotional distress.
The widow is suing the cemetery, claiming that its negligence has caused her “severe emotional distress and mental anguish” and that she “has been denied her right to grieve.” She accuses the graveyard of negligence and describes its actions as “intentional, extreme, reckless, and outrageous.”
Background of the Deceased
Alan, a father of two, was a master stone mason in Hungary before settling in Jersey City and later relocating to Colorado. It was in Colorado that he met his wife and started two businesses, according to his obituary. The couple eventually moved to Lake Hopatcong in 2003, where Alan enjoyed golfing with his son and friends, watching wildlife on the lake, attending car shows, and spending time with family.
“Al was very proud to be an American,” his obituary stated.
Legal Action
Poller is demanding a jury trial and monetary damages for the cemetery's alleged mistake. The lawsuit underscores the profound impact of the error on her grieving process, seeking compensation for the emotional turmoil caused by the burial mix-up.
