Cases

Plaintiffs sued the County for negligence in handling the corpse of their deceased family member. They contended that the corpse was not properly refrigerated before the family picked it up and that as a result they received an unaesthetic corpse. The Court of Appeal held that a County Coroner has no duty to family members of a deceased person to take affirmative steps to preserve the body in any particular condition. The court expressly rejected a Ninth Circuit opinion that purported to find a duty in California for a coroner to obtain permission from the family before removing corneas from the dead.

Case Briefs

• Perryman v County of Los Angeles Respondents Brief - View Document
• Perryman v County of Los Angeles Opinion - View Document
• Perryman v County of Los Angeles Answer to Petition for Review - View Document