Montreal man suing funeral home for cremating mother without consent

Stephane Thales says the funeral home disobeyed his mother’s wishes when they cremated her.

Stéphane Thalès says he still has trouble when passing cemeteries and seeing final resting spaces where his mother could be, but is not.

The former health-care executive is suing the American funeral services company SCI for cremating his mother without authorization in 2016.

The suit alleges “undue pressure, gross negligence, abuse of power and violations of rights” from the Houston-based Service Corporation International and La Maison Darche in Longueuil following the cremation of Thalès’s mother Edith Jean-Philippe. Jean-Philippe died of cancer in November 2015.

“It was known from the beginning that it would be a burial,” said Thalès. “It was clear from the beginning that I’m her legal executor. There was no doubt about that.”

Thalès is a nurse who cared for his mother and has been engaged in the lawsuit since 2019, claiming that he had given written notice refusing consent to the cremation.

Thalès said that he told the home that the funeral may be delayed after his mother passed away, and understood that they were okay with that, but that a manager contacted him and, “suddenly he started steering me into a cremation for my mother.”

“Finally, I get a phone call and he becomes a little bit more insistent and threatening,” said Thalès. “He continues to harass me.”

Jean-Philippe was eventually cremated and Thalès launched his suit three years later.

All accusations must be proven in court.

La Maison Darche Services funéraires would not comment on the case.

“We value the privacy of the families we are honoured to serve and therefore, cannot share certain matters with the media,” the home said.

Thalès is seeking moral and punitive damages and corporate liability from SCI.

“This is a very important case that hopefully will be precedent-setting because it’s about not only a son fighting to have his mother’s last wishes respected by the funeral home, but it’s about the accountability of funeral homes when they have a contract,” said CRARR executive director Fo Niemi.

The trial is scheduled to commence in February, just over a decade since Thalès’s mother died.

With reporting from CTV News journalist Swidda Rassy