Modesto family sues over wrong 'death'

By Merrill Balassone
mbalassone@modbee.com

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Friends and relatives of Jesse Armenta were surprised to see the 66-year-old Modestan walking around at his own funeral.

According to a lawsuit filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court, a Merced funeral home used Armenta's photograph in an obituary for his late father, 89-year-old Jesus Armenta.

Friends of the younger Armenta flocked to the Ivers & Alcorn Funeral Home to mourn his "passing," according to the lawsuit. A card with Jesse Armenta's photo was next to the guest book at the funeral reception, Armenta said.

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"I was shocked all the way," Armenta said last week. "People were coming up to me saying, 'You're alive!' "

Armenta is suing Ivers & Alcorn Funeral Home for more than $25,000 for allegedly botching the obituary and funeral services meant for his father on Oct. 23, 2008. The lawsuit, filed in August, seeks damages for severe emotional distress, pain and suffering, and a return of the nearly $6,000 funeral cost. Armenta said the obituary wasn't corrected until the day after his father was buried.

Armenta's wife, Mary Lou, said the mistake was particularly distressing because Armenta suffers from health problems and recently had undergone heart surgery.

"I think (people) believed it, and that hurt," she said.

Jeremy Jimenez, a counselor who helped plan the Armenta funeral, said he was advised by a manager not to answer questions from The Bee. Jimenez, who is also named in legal papers, said he first heard about the lawsuit from a Bee reporter on Friday.

But there was more, according to the Armenta family. Mary Lou Armenta said she got a call the night before the funeral. The funeral home had lost the pinstripe suit Jesus Armenta wanted to be buried in. Staffers ultimately were able to find the suit before the service.

"He arranged the whole funeral," Mary Lou Armenta said of her father-in-law. "He trusted us. And we can't do it again."

At the end of the service, Mary Lou Armenta watched as the hearse made a wrong turn. She said a funeral home worker directed Jesus Armenta's casket to the wrong cemetery.

"I had to cut the hearse off," she said.

The Armentas said all they wanted was an apology for the "mismanaged" ceremony. But after a month with no word from Ivers & Alcorn, the Armentas said they went to Modesto attorney Adam Stewart.

On Friday, nearly a year after the funeral, the Armentas got their apology. Mary Lou Armenta believes it came after The Bee contacted the funeral home.

"It's disgusting," Mary Lou Armenta said. "(My father-in-law) would have been angry. And he was a very calm person."

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.