Flores v. Baca
New Mexico Supreme Court
871 P.2d 962 (1994)

- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
Maria Flores (plaintiff) and her husband, Hipolito, made prospective funeral arrangements that expressly called for their bodies to be embalmed before burial. When Hipolito died, Maria’s daughter, Rachel Ramirez (Rachel) (plaintiff), contracted with Sam Baca (defendant), a funeral director, to conduct Hipolito’s funeral, embalming, and burial. Two weeks later, medical authorities ordered Hipolito’s body to be exhumed and autopsied. Maria and her children attended the exhumation and were shocked by the badly decomposed lower half of Hipolito’s corpse, which clearly had not been embalmed. The family sued and filed both tort-based and contract-based claims against Baca. After two trials, the trial court awarded Rachel and Maria compensatory damages for Baca’s breach of contract. Rachel’s award compensated Rachel for the improper embalming, and Maria’s award compensated Maria for emotional distress. The trial court dismissed all other claims, including claims for punitive damages. The family and Baca filed cross-appeals to the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ransom, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.