Jaynes v. Strong-Thorne Mortuary Inc‪.‬

Opinion Number: 1998-NMSC-004 {1} Kiro Arthur Jaynes died in February of 1994. His brother, William Jaynes, and his son Arthur Jaynes, arranged for the burial with Strong-Thorne Mortuary, doing business as Fairview Memorial Park. The Jaynes family owned a family plot at Fairview Memorial Gardens. In preparing the grave for Kiro, Strong-Thorne disturbed the grave of Vondaine Jaynes, William's mother. The surviving children of Vondaine Jaynes'; William Jaynes, his brother, Robert Jaynes, and sisters, Linda Gray, and Carolyn Salter, sued Strong-Thorne Mortuary on claims of breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and prima facie tort. {2} Strong-Thorne moved for summary judgment on all the claims, and the district court granted the motion. Appellants moved the court to reconsider the grant of summary judgment. In particular, counsel provided a joint letter to the trial Judge stating that ""ounsel agree that the defendant's motion for summary judgment was not based on a claim that plaintiffs have not suffered severe emotional distress, and, therefore, neither party has briefed or argued this issue during the proceedings on the defendant's motion for summary judgment, and neither party desires for the court to erroneously conclude that this issue should constitute a ground for upholding the court's decision to grant summary judgment to the defendant."" The district court refused to vacate the summary judgment, and Appellants appealed to this Court. We affirm.