ABC7 News I-Team reporter Dan Noyes says a San Jose father has filed a lawsuit after what the family describes as a horrific mistake at a funeral home. In Noyes’ reporting, the father asked for his son’s clothing to be returned, but says he was given something else entirely.
Noyes lays out the allegation in plain terms: the bag the father believed contained clothing allegedly contained his son’s brain.
Even hearing that sentence feels unreal, and that’s part of why this story hits so hard. Funerals are one of the few moments in life where families should be able to trust professionals without constantly looking over their shoulder.
Noyes reports the deceased was 27-year-old Alexander Pinon, who died on May 19. Noyes adds that the family asked him not to report the cause or manner of death, saying they are already struggling with the loss and what happened afterward.
Noyes identifies the funeral home at the center of the lawsuit as the Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel on Willow Street in San Jose.
What The Family Says Happened At The Funeral Home
Noyes says the family’s attorney, Samer Habbas, filed the lawsuit and described what the family wanted at the start: a dignified farewell and a respectful process.
Habbas tells Noyes the family agreed to pay the funeral home more than $10,000 for what the lawsuit calls a “full-service memorial tribute package.”
Along with that, Noyes reports the family wanted to provide nicer clothing for Alex to wear during the burial service. They also asked the funeral director to return what Alex had been wearing at the time of death.
According to Noyes’ report, the lawsuit says funeral director Anita Singh handed Alex’s father a bag that was supposed to contain those clothes.
Noyes says the father went home and did what many people would do without thinking twice: he took the bag straight to the laundry.
That’s when the lawsuit claims everything turned into a nightmare. Noyes reports that “brain material” allegedly tumbled out of the bag and into the washing machine.
Habbas tells Noyes the family didn’t even know what they were looking at in that moment, and that uncertainty made it worse. In Habbas’ words, they didn’t know if it was their son’s brain, or someone else’s, or how it could have happened.
It’s hard to overstate how destabilizing that would be for a grieving parent. A family already walking around in shock is suddenly forced into a gruesome problem-solving mode, trying to understand what’s in front of them and what it means.
Noyes reports the lawsuit says Alex’s father scooped the material out, put it back in the bag, and returned it to Anita Singh at the funeral home.
Habbas tells Noyes that Singh allegedly took the bag back without explaining whose brain it was, without giving details, and without apologizing. Habbas says Singh’s response, as described in the lawsuit, was essentially: “I’ll take that from here.”
Noyes reports that the next day, Alexander Pinon was buried at Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery.
In a normal situation, that would be the moment where a family can begin grieving in a quieter way. Noyes’ reporting makes it clear this family says they never got that chance.
Questions About Storage And Transparency
Noyes says the lawsuit includes another claim that deepens the accusation beyond a single mix-up. He reports that weeks later, the lawsuit says a whistleblower who works at the funeral home came forward and confirmed the brain in the bag was Alex’s.
Noyes also reports the lawsuit claims that after the mix-up, Anita Singh placed the brain in a box and left it outside in the funeral home’s courtyard for two and a half months.
According to Noyes, the lawsuit alleges an employee later found the box and was overwhelmed by the smell of a rotting human brain.
Habbas tells Noyes that mistakes can happen, but what he says cannot happen is a cover-up. Habbas frames the allegation as not only an error, but an effort to hide the error instead of confronting it directly.
That’s the part that would alarm a lot of families, even those who have never dealt with a funeral home before. If the accusation were only “a wrong bag was handed over,” people would still be horrified, but they might at least imagine a fast, transparent correction.
What Noyes describes is a family claiming they were left with silence when they needed answers, and then later hearing allegations that the remains were mishandled again.
It also raises a bigger question that Noyes’ reporting puts in front of viewers without forcing a conclusion: if a funeral home can’t clearly account for something this sensitive, what does that say about the controls meant to prevent mix-ups in the first place?
Company Response And The Search For Answers
Noyes reports he contacted the Lima Family funeral home and was referred to its owner, Service Corporation International, also known as SCI.
Noyes describes SCI as the largest funeral service company in North America, operating under the Dignity Memorial brand.
In Noyes’ report, Dignity Memorial’s own promotional messaging stresses precision, with a line about needing to get every detail right the first time, every time.
That kind of slogan is meant to reassure families, and most of the time, it probably does. But placed next to the allegations in this lawsuit, it lands differently, almost like a promise being tested under the worst possible conditions.
Noyes says SCI spokesperson Christopher James sent him an email stating that because of active litigation, the company would not comment on the matter.
Noyes then went looking for Anita Singh at the Lima Family chapel. An office manager told Noyes that Singh did work there, but had left for good two weeks earlier.
Noyes reports he later caught up with Singh as she arrived home and asked her directly how a father could be given his son’s brain instead of a bag of clothing.
Noyes says Singh backed away and did not answer.
Noyes also reports he asked whether she had anything to say to the family, and again, there was no response on camera.
In situations like this, silence doesn’t calm people down. It usually does the opposite. Even if a person has been advised not to speak because of lawsuits, the absence of any human acknowledgment tends to make the public assume the worst.
Noyes says he also reached out to the company’s attorney involved in the case, and did not receive an answer. He adds that no response had been filed in court yet, even though, as Noyes puts it, more than two months had passed.
What Comes Next For The Family
Noyes reports he scheduled an interview with Alexander Pinon’s parents, but they were too emotional and decided they could not talk about their ordeal yet.
That detail matters because it shows what a lawsuit can’t fully capture. Legal paperwork can list facts and demands, but it can’t measure the day-to-day impact on a family that says it lived through something this disturbing.
Noyes says the lawsuit is moving forward, and the family’s lawyers are negotiating a plan to reunite Alex’s brain with the rest of him, already buried at Oak Hill.
Habbas tells Noyes the family may never fully recover from what they experienced. He says they don’t know the extent of the suffering the family will go through, but he believes it is something they will never forget.
That is the grim center of Noyes’ reporting: this is not just a complaint about poor service. The lawsuit describes a moment where grief was mixed with horror, and where the family’s trust in a sacred process was shattered.
And while the court system will eventually sort through claims and defenses, the emotional reality is immediate. If the allegations are true, this is the kind of mistake that doesn’t fade into an unfortunate memory – it becomes part of a family’s grief story forever.
Noyes ends with a simple promise that fits the role of an investigative reporter: he says he will keep tracking what happens next.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
