A family is suing a cemetery after learning that a loved one's remains had been misplaced for 18 years and they'd been visiting the wrong grave site.
Delores Mitchel-Leaks, Tykeith Leaks, Darius Leaks and Malik Leaks filed a complaint July 21 in Cook County Circuit Court against Chicago Cemetery Corp.
On Sept. 24, 1996, Ralph E. Leaks Jr. passed away at 25. He was interred at one of the defendant's cemeteries.
In May 2015, two of the cemetery's employees met with plaintiff Delores Mitchel Leaks and informed her that his actual burial site was not where they'd been visiting at the headstone, the lawsuit states, but at another plot.
"Defendant's conduct in failing to disclose the misplacement of the remains, for more than 18 years, was extreme and outrageous," the lawsuit states.
The plaintiff, citing negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as negligence, seek damages of more than $150,000, plus costs.
The plaintiff is represented by Glenn E. Heilizer of Heilizer Law Offices in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2015L007431.