Man who asked for cremation was shown at a stranger’s wake, $18M lawsuit claims
Two sisters say their father wanted only a direct cremation. Their lawsuit says his body ended up in another man's casket at a wake for a different family.
A father who wanted no viewing at all ended up on display at a stranger’s wake, according to an $18 million lawsuit his daughters filed Monday. Shirley Leyro and Jennifer Diaz are suing R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home, a Washington Heights business, and say their father’s body was placed in another man’s casket and shown to a different grieving family.
Jose Luis Diaz died in May. Leyro, his stepdaughter, said illness had made him lose a lot of weight, and he did not want people to remember him looking that way. So he asked for a direct cremation. The sisters got back ashes and thought they had done what he wanted.
How the family learned of the alleged funeral home mix-up
The sisters say they learned what happened when they read about a lawsuit brought by relatives of another dead man. At a viewing, that family saw a body that did not seem to be their father’s, said attorney Phil Rizzuto. He said they found a 70-year-old who stood 6-foot-1 wearing clothes meant for a much shorter 84-year-old, and staff told them the man in the casket was their father.
The lawsuit alleges that the other man’s remains had been cremated too soon. It also alleges that the funeral home later admitted an error, saying the two men had similar names and the wrong Jose Diaz went into the casket.
“In trying to deceive the other family they used our father as a prop,” Leyro said. The sisters say they no longer know whether the ashes in their urn are actually his.
Funeral home still operating after 2024 city case
The business has been to court before. In 2024 the city brought a case against R.G. Ortiz and recovered $600,000 for other victims. The funeral home is still open for business, and its license was never pulled. State health regulators are now looking into what happened.
Jennifer Diaz said she wants people to remember how many lives her father touched. “He wasn’t an unknown deceased person in somebody else’s coffin,” she said.
Quick answers
What does the lawsuit against R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home claim?
Two sisters say their father, who had asked for a direct cremation, was placed in another man's casket and shown at a wake for a different family. They are seeking $18 million.
Is R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home still open?
Yes. The business is still operating and its license was never revoked, even after the city's 2024 case. State health regulators are looking into the new claims.
