A Horry County man was buried when his family wanted a cremation. Now they’re suing.

A Horry County family is suing Conway Medical Center and a Georgetown funeral home, blaming them for mistakenly burying a loved one who was to be cremated.

A civil suit filed Sept. 16 by survivors of James Gross Sr. blames the hospital, Mayer Funeral Home and Murrells Inlet-based Grindstaff Transportation for causing “distress so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure the same.”

Gross’ wife, Nancy is suing for negligence, gross negligence and outrage. According to court records, her husband James died Jan. 27, 2021, at Conway Medical Center.

Rather than being cremated as the family wanted, Gross was transported to the funeral home and buried.

Mayer Funeral Home representatives couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, and inquiries to Conway Medical Center and Jonathan Krell, Gross’s attorney, were not immediately returned.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages, but claims in similar cases have reached into the millions.

Relatives of a New Jersey woman sued a funeral home for $50 million earlier this year after another person was put in her casket, according to a local radio station report.

This story was originally published September 23, 2022 at 7:00 AM.