21-8-2023 (SINGAPORE) The family of an 82-year-old man, whose body was mistakenly cremated following Christian funeral rites instead of Taoist ones, has filed a civil suit against the funeral service providers on Monday (Aug 21), seeking S$225,000 (US$165,800) in general damages.
The late Mr. Kee Kin Tiong’s body was mistakenly retrieved by an employee of Harmony Funeral Care on Dec 30, 2019, who had confused him with another individual, Mr. Chia Soon Chuan. As a result, Mr. Kee received Christian funeral rites meant for Mr. Chia and was subsequently cremated. The family, in their opening statement, expressed their distress as they were left without a body to perform a funeral wake according to Taoist funeral traditions.
The plaintiffs, consisting of Mr. Kee’s children and his granddaughter, are seeking S$225,000 in general damages, along with additional amounts such as S$2,257.70 for psychiatric consultations and S$14,000 for “future grief therapy”. They claim to have endured mental distress, trauma, and persistent complex bereavement disorder.
In their affidavits, the family described the past few years as “a living hell”. They are being represented by lawyers Andrew Wong, Eunice Chua, and Patrick Tan from Fortis Law.
Four defendants are involved in the case: Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker, the funeral service provider responsible for arranging Mr. Kee’s funeral and cremation; Century Products Company, where Mr. Kee’s body was embalmed; Harmony Funeral Care, another funeral service provider that used the same embalming studio; and Mr. Nicholas Ang Kai, the employee who collected the wrong body.
WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY
According to the opening statements of both the plaintiffs and defendants, Mr. Kee passed away on Dec 29, 2019.
His family engaged Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker to handle the collection of Mr. Kee’s body, embalming arrangements, and its delivery for the funeral.
An employee of Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker transported Mr. Kee’s body to the embalming studio operated by Century Products Company.
An experienced embalmer performed the necessary procedures on Mr. Kee’s body and left it in the studio to be delivered to the family the following morning.
Separately, Harmony Funeral Care instructed its employee, Mr. Ang, to collect the body of Mr. Chia for cremation.
Lawyers representing Mr. Ang stated that he had only been working for two months and had not received any formal training or standard operating procedures.
Due to a mix-up, Mr. Ang mistakenly collected Mr. Kee’s body instead of Mr. Chia’s.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Mr. Kee’s family was “irreversibly denied the opportunity to say their final goodbyes” as they were left without a body to conduct a funeral wake. They attributed this to Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker’s breach of contract, the negligence of the embalming studio and Mr. Ang, and Harmony Funeral Care’s “vicarious liability” for Mr. Ang’s negligence.
GRANDDAUGHTER TAKES THE STAND
On Monday, Mr. Kee’s granddaughter, Ms. Adeline Kee, testified in court and faced questioning from the defendants’ lawyers regarding her alleged psychiatric symptoms and claims that the defendants were not remorseful.
According to Ms. Kee, Taoist tradition dictates that a deceased person should be mourned for at least three days before cremation. This practice ensures a smooth journey for the soul into the afterlife. Without proper procedures, she stated, “it’s our belief the soul will still remain in the body”.
Mr. Darren Tan, lead counsel for Harmony Funeral Care, along with Mr. Silas Siew and Mr. Anthony Shane Yeo, questioned Ms. Kee about her recollection of the funeral service providers offering apologies to her family, including ritual apologies using joss sticks.
Ms. Kee often responded that she could not remember or that her aunts and uncles handled the matters. She mentioned recalling one of the defendants who seemed to be solely focused on her business and accused the family of making “so many phone calls”.
