Portland, OR – A mother must exhume her son’s remains following a funeral home’s grave site error. The court has ruled that the grave belongs to another family who purchased the plot years ago.
Paula Tin Nyo’s son, Tyber Harrison, died in 2016. His ashes were interred in a memorial vault at the Skyline Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home.
In a recent lawsuit, the company admitted to double-booking the grave site. A judge determined that the site should be designated for the Reser family, whose son passed away in 2019.
The Multnomah County civil jury found the funeral home negligent for the error. However, they concluded that the emotional distress claimed by Tin Nyo was not warranted due to a breach of contract on her part.
Tin Nyo’s lawyer reported that the contract restricted the addition of human cremains. The attorney described the case as profoundly sad.
Skyline attempted to resolve the issue by refunding Tin Nyo a portion of her payment and offering to relocate the vault a few feet away. They stated that they had taken full responsibility for the mistake.
The Reser family is interred near the site and reportedly intends to place a memorial bench where Harrison’s remains were.
The funeral home began excavation of Harrison’s vault on Tuesday. They expect the complete removal to occur in the coming weeks.