Rice v. Sioux City Memorial Park Cemetery, Inc.

This is an action for damages brought by plaintiff, petitioner here, in the District Court of Woodbury County, Iowa, to compensate her for mental suffering claimed to flow from defendant cemetery's refusal to bury her husband, a Winnebago Indian, after services had been conducted at the grave site and the burial party had disbanded. Plaintiff founded her action, so far as here relevant, on breach of a contract whereby defendant had undertaken to afford plaintiff ‘‘Right of Sepulture” in a specified lot of its cemetery. The contract of sale of the burial lot also provided that

“burial…