Quesada v. Oak Hill Improvement Co

In Quesada v. Oak Hill Improvement Co. (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 596, the defendant funeral home showed the body of a stranger to the decedent's family and buried it in the decedent's plot despite the family's protests that the body was not the decedent. (Quesada, supra, 213 Cal.App.3d at p. 600.) Following traditional tort analysis, the court noted that in the absence of overriding policy considerations, an objective determination of the foreseeability of risk is of primary importance in establishing the element of duty. (Id. at p. 604.) The court concluded the injury to close friends and relatives from the misplacement of the deceased's body and the "improper treatment of another" was foreseeable because parties charged with the care, custody, and control of the remains of a deceased should know that their friends and relatives are emotionally vulnerable and preoccupied with concern over the disposition of the body. (Id. at p. 605.) Tempering liability based on foreseeability with relevant policy considerations, the court limited the class of potential plaintiffs to close family members to avoid expansive liability. (Id. at p. 609.)