A third family has sued McDermott's Funeral and Cremation Services, the Las Vegas funeral home whose state license was revoked after inspectors documented bodies stored in unsanitary conditions and cremations delayed for months.
The lawsuit, filed July 20, 2026, in Clark County District Court, was brought by Alyssa Sandoval. Her father, Avelino Sandoval, 49, died May 6, 2025, at Summerlin Hospital. His body was transported to McDermott's the same day. The family signed a contract for direct cremation stating his remains would be processed within seven to 28 business days.
His remains were not cremated until June 13, 2025. That is more than five weeks after his death.
According to the complaint, McDermott's staff told Alyssa Sandoval multiple times that cremation was in progress. The lawsuit says that was not true.
When Sandoval received her father's cremated remains, no identifying metal tag was included. Such tags are standard industry practice. They are attached to a decedent's body before cremation and returned with the remains to confirm identity. The lawsuit says their absence left Sandoval uncertain whether the cremains she received were actually her father's.
The complaint also states that Avelino Sandoval's body was stored in Cooler 3 at McDermott's facility. That is the same cooler flagged during state inspections in July and August 2024, where investigators found bodies leaking blood and bodily fluids and wrapped in soiled sheets.
By the Numbers
The Sandoval lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions against the funeral home. A toddler named Autumn died in June 2024, weeks after her first birthday. Her mother, Alyssa Serna, said Autumn drowned. The family's lawsuit claims McDermott's held Autumn's body for more than four months before cremating her. Her family also did not receive an identifying metal tag.
A lawsuit filed in September 2025 brought similar allegations. Jose Gonzalez filed suit on behalf of Dora Gonzalez, who died July 17, 2025. Her body was taken to McDermott's, and the family said officials recommended the funeral home's services. The paperwork stated cremation would take seven to 28 days.
The family was notified nearly a month later that Dora's body had been removed from McDermott's and transferred to Davis Funeral Homes. She was one of 146 bodies Clark County officials confirmed were taken from the facility. When the family visited Dora at Davis Funeral Home, the lawsuit states her body had decomposed to the point where her fingerprints could not be identified.
Davis cremated Dora's body on September 1, 2025.
The Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board revoked McDermott's license on August 15, 2025, citing cremations not completed in a timely manner. A February 2024 inspection had already found eight bodies at the facility held for an extended period. A follow-up inspection that summer found additional bodies that had still not been cremated.
Inspectors documented bodies stacked on shelves covered in soiled sheets, bodily fluids smeared on walls, and at least one body in an open cremation box without a lid. Neighboring businesses had contacted authorities to report foul odors coming from the facility.
“Losing anybody is hard, but losing your child is horrible. I didn't want to imagine her in a tiny coffin. I didn't want any of that. I just wanted her home with me.”
The Sandoval complaint alleges negligence, negligence per se, mishandling of a corpse, negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and deceptive trade practices. It seeks general, special, and punitive damages each in excess of $15,000, along with attorney fees and costs.
The pattern across all three lawsuits is consistent. Families signed contracts promising cremation within a defined window. The window was missed by weeks or months. Identifying metal tags were not returned with the remains. And bodies were stored in conditions that state inspectors found unacceptable.
The absence of identifying tags is particularly significant. Without a metal tag, there is no physical chain of custody linking the cremains a family receives to the specific person who died. The cremation process is irreversible. Once a body is cremated, there is no way to verify whether the correct remains were returned.
Nevada law requires cremation to occur within a "reasonable" period after death. The statute does not define what counts as reasonable. McDermott's own contracts specified seven to 28 business days, a window the funeral home routinely missed.
What This Means for You
Three families in three separate lawsuits describe the same failures: delayed cremations, missing identification tags, and bodies stored in conditions that violated state standards. The Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board revoked the license, but the harm to these families cannot be reversed. The cremains they received may or may not be their loved ones.
Families in Nevada can verify a funeral home's license status through the Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board. Consumers signing cremation contracts should confirm the cremation timeline in writing and ask whether identifying metal tags will be returned with the cremains. If a funeral home cannot provide that assurance, that is information worth having before signing.
Sources: KVVU/FOX5 Las Vegas (July 2026); Clark County District Court complaints; Nevada Funeral and Cemetery Services Board inspection records (2024-2025); KLAS 8 News Now (September 2025).
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