A mother in Oregon has been plunged back into grief after a judge ordered her son's remains to be dug up, following a catastrophic error by a funeral home that double-booked his burial plot.
A Tragic Error and a Heartbreaking Discovery
Paula Tin Nyo, 62, buried her 20-year-old son, Tyber Harrison, after he was tragically hit and killed by a truck in March 2016 near the University of Central Florida. In 2021, seeking a final resting place, she purchased interment rights for what she believed was a newly created plot at Skyline Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home.
Her world shattered again in 2022 when the funeral home informed her of a devastating mistake. The plot had already been sold years earlier, in 2019, to Martin and Jane Reser, heirs to the $2 billion Reser's Fine Foods empire. They had purchased it for their son, Alex Reser, a 30-year-old accountant who died from a fentanyl overdose on March 4, 2019. Alex Reser is interred nearby in the family plot.
The Legal Battle and a Mother's Plea
Faced with the blunder, Skyline Memorial Gardens admitted negligence but insisted it must honour the first purchase agreement. Judge Eric J. Neiman ruled in early December that the plot legally belonged to the Reser family and ordered Tyber Harrison's remains to be exhumed.
Paula Tin Nyo begged the funeral home to leave her son's grave undisturbed. She filed a counterclaim against the cemetery for $17 million, arguing the ordeal had caused severe emotional distress. However, in a ruling on December 22, a jury found that while the funeral home was negligent, its actions did not inflict 'severe emotional distress' under the law.
The court heard that the funeral home had 'repeatedly' offered Tin Nyo alternative interment rights, including relocating a memorial bench and a vault containing her son's baby teeth, hair, and a small portion of his ashes. The court noted that by placing these personal mementos in the vault, she had breached her contract, as Oregon law requires cemetery permission for such additions.
A Family's Profound Grief Revisited
David Williams, Tin Nyo's husband, spoke of the family's anguish. "I think the humanity or lack of it, the cruelty, and someone feeling so entitled that they just wanted that piece of property when someone’s son is already in the ground was sort of unfathomable," he told local media.
He expressed disbelief at the jury's finding regarding emotional suffering. "They didn't think she would suffer. I can't imagine anyone thinking that she wouldn't suffer," he said, visibly emotional.
Tin Nyo's attorney, Darian Stanford, expressed his profound disappointment after the verdict, stating, "In 25 years as a lawyer, I’d say this is as profoundly sad and disappointed as I’ve ever been. Paula and her family deserve better."
Heather St. Clair, the attorney for Skyline Memorial Gardens, stated her client had taken accountability, apologised, and offered every remedy available under the law and contract, asking the court to "look at facts over feelings."
The Reser family, referred to as John and Jayne Smith in the lawsuit, did not wish to be involved in the litigation but were eventually ordered to be. Cemetery workers have now begun the exhumation process, forcing Paula Tin Nyo and her family to endure a painful chapter of loss all over again.
