Family, Funeral Home Reach Settlement in Casket Mix-Up

The friends and family of retired Army Col. Joseph Malvin “Mal” Chapman gathered together for his funeral over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2013.

But on the evening before Chapman’s funeral, at a viewing at a Fairfax City funeral home, they received a shock: The man in the casket was not Chapman.

Not only did the Everly Funeral Home mix up the bodies, but they dressed the wrong man in Chapman’s Army dress uniform.

Chapman’s body was found several days later, buried in another grave. He was subsequently interred last March in Arlington National Cemetery. After the family sued Everly for damages and a refund of the money they’d been paid, the funeral home last week agreed to a confidential settlement, according to the Washington Post.

Chapman served for 28 years in the Army as a signals officer and retired in 1983. Relatives expressed anger following the viewing.

And a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association said such mix-ups are extremely rare.

Everly, in downtown Fairfax City, is now the Demaine Funeral Home.

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