Widow Sues Funeral Home in Body Swap

A widow who was shocked to see that her deceased husband’s casket contained a stranger dressed in his naval uniform has sued the funeral home for $250,000, her lawyer said Friday.

“It was the right casket but the wrong body,” attorney W.H. Stephenson said.

Frances Davis, whose husband, Billy, died Jan. 17, contended she suffered “shock, horror and dismay” at the error by Hibbett & Haley Funeral Home, where she went for a viewing of his body.

Stephenson said funeral home workers had to ask the widow for a picture of her husband to help locate his body, which was subsequently sent to North Carolina for burial.

Davis filed suit in Davidson County Circuit Court seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages from the funeral home, its director, and owner Stillbrook Corp., alleging she suffered “enormous mental fear, depression, distress, pain and anguish.”