MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., (March 17, 2006) - Motley Rice LLC, one of the nation's largest claimants' litigation firms, together with co-counsel Rubenstein & Rynecki, today announced that it has filed a class action lawsuit against several human tissue processing firms and New York funeral homes on behalf of the victims of an alleged body harvesting scheme. The suit, filed in Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Kings, is on behalf of Dainis Zeltins of Brooklyn, N.Y., Josephine Olivo of Staten Island, N.Y., and all others similarly situated, whose family members' or loved ones' bodies were illegally harvested of tissue and bone for use in human transplants. The defendants in the case allegedly stole body parts from the corpses without prior consent of the decedents (while they were alive) or the decedents' next-of-kin. The body parts were then sold for use as transplantation material in living human beings. The result of these transplants has been several known, and potentially thousands of unknown, cases of infectious disease in transplant patients.
Defendants in the case include the now defunct Biomedical Tissue Services (BTS) along with four of its employees or agents; LMC Tissue Recovery Services; MCM Tissue Recovery Services, Inc.; Chris Aldorasi Funeral Service; Daniel George & Son Funeral Home, Inc.; English Brothers Funeral Home; Frank Restivo Funeral Home; New York Mortuary Services, Inc.; and several individuals.
Following the death of his brother, Richard Zeltins, in April 2003, Dainis Zeltins entrusted the David George & Son Funeral Home in Brooklyn, N.Y., with the care of his brother's body, which was to be cremated. Years later, in September 2005, a New York City detective came to the home of Dainis Zeltins and presented him with an allegedly forged release that allowed for the harvesting of tissue from the corpse of Mr. Zeltins. Similarly, plaintiff Josephine Olivo entrusted the funeral home of English Brothers Funeral Home in Brooklyn with the body of her husband, Anthony, after he passed away in April 2003. In September of 2005, she, too, was approached by New York City detectives and presented with a forged release allowing for the harvesting of tissue from her husband's deceased body. Both Zeltins and Olivo were to have been cremated without any prior tissue harvesting. Court documents show falsified records associated with more than 60 tissue extractions performed by Biomedical Tissue Services.
"A funeral home should be the most trusted partner a loved one deals with after losing someone close to them. The fact that these defendants violated that trust in such an ugly manner is unthinkable," stated Motley Rice attorney Kevin Dean. "Not only do my clients have to now relive the grief of losing their loved ones, but they will also spend the rest of her life knowing that their bodies were gruesomely violated after their death."
Four of the defendants, Dr. Michael Mastromarino and Joseph Nicelli of BTS, and Lee Cruceta, and Christopher Aldorasi, Dr. Mastromarino's assistants, were recently charged in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., for operating a corrupt $4.6 million enterprise to harvest human tissue from funeral homes and sell it for use in transplants and research. Hospitals nationwide have reported receipt of the illegally harvested and potentially dangerous tissue. Motley Rice is also representing individuals who may have received the stolen tissue during transplant surgery. The firm currently has more than 100 clients across the nation.
Motley Rice filed the case together with co-counsel Sanford Rubenstein of Rubenstein & Rynecki, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Mr. Rubenstein has been at the forefront of this issue, fighting against organ-harvesting abuse since it first came to light last year. Last fall, he filed the first individual lawsuits on behalf of Brooklyn residents whose family members, originally slated for cremation, were allegedly harvested without their relatives' knowledge.
