Originally Posted on Omaha World-Herald
An Omaha mortuary and its insurers are seeking at least $5.75 million from a Pennsylvania company they claim didn’t properly rebuild a cremation machine allegedly at the root of a fire last year that injured four people and disrupted some burial services.
The Jan. 26, 2016, blaze engulfed and shut down the Heafey Hoffmann Dworak & Cutler funeral chapel at 78th Street and West Center Road. A replacement building is rising on the same spot.
According to a lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court, the mortuary owners in October 2015 contracted with defendant Matthews International Corp. of Pennsylvania to rebuild Heafey’s cremation machine, including the replacement of a flue stack.
Three months later, Omaha firefighters were dispatched to the burning funeral home.
John Schleiter, who represents the mortuary and Ohio-based insurance companies Cincinnati Casualty Co. and Cincinnati Indemnity Co., said their investigation revealed that the fire resulted from the improper design and installation of the flue stack associated with the rebuilt cremation machine.
Representatives of Matthews International declined to comment for this story.
In addition to Schleiter’s Chicago-based Grotefeld Hoffmann law firm, the Omaha-based Gross, property lawyers Melbourne Shwartz & Welch law firm also represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed March 20.
Neighbors of the Heafey mortuary reported hearing a loud explosion when the fire erupted in the wee hours of Jan. 26.
Also racing to the blaze that morning was co-owner Bill Cutler. After he got the OK, Cutler went inside with a firefighter to try to retrieve the remains of dead people the funeral home had been servicing. A piece of the ceiling fell on him, requiring 15 stitches to Cutler’s head.
Three firefighters also required medical attention but were released from the hospital that afternoon.
The bodies and cremains of deceased people that had been in the burning structure later were taken to other mortuaries owned by the company.
Until now, little has been said publicly about the suspected cause of the inferno.
The Omaha Fire Department, after its investigation, declared the blaze unintentional but did not report a specific cause. Fire officials have said that their job was to determine whether the fire was arson, accidental or an act of nature, not to pin down a cause.
Cutler told reporters early on that he believed the fire started on the west side of the building where the crematory was located.
The Fire Department’s incident report said the funeral chapel loss was valued at $1.55 million, and the loss of its contents was $777,000.
The mortuary and its insurers, according to the court filing, are seeking at least $5,750,000 for what they said was the cost of damage and interest.
