A family is suing a Manhattan funeral home after a shocking mix-up involving their deceased father — and it’s far from the first complaint to be lodged against the business. The family and friends of Jose Daniel Diaz Felipe was prepared to say goodbye to the man they knew as Danielito at his wake in late May after his death at the age of 84. But when they showed up at the R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home in Washington Heights, they were stunned by who they found lying in his casket. “We open the coffin and find another man. And they were trying for hours to convince us he was our father,” Jose Luis Diaz, the man’s son, previously told NBC New York. Diaz said his father was bald, but the corpse lying in the coffin — which was dressed in his father’s clothes — had hair and was much taller his dad, who was 5’3. The family immediately tried to get answers from the funeral home about the whereabouts of their dad. At first, the funeral home insisted the body inside the casket for the wake was that of their father, despite the family’s arguments to the contrary, the lawsuit stated. After the services, the funeral home said they had made a mistake because they had received two people with the same name and mixed up the bodies. “That was cruel. Make us get in contact with another body,” Diaz said.  The funeral home then told the family that their father had been cremated days earlier, according to the lawsuit. The family did not get a chance to see their father’s body before the process or get a proper goodbye. “We believe that they knew they made a mistake and were hoping they would be convincing enough to cover it up,” said the family’s attorney, Philip Rizzuto. The family is seeking $16 million in damages as a result of the alleged mix-up, saying they have suffered severe “mental, psychological, traumatic injuries, including great mental pain and suffering.” It’s not the first time a grieving family has had an issue with services provided by R.G. Ortiz Funeral Homes. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection sued the funeral home after receiving nearly 50 complaints about the condition of the remains of loved ones and misrepresenting or concealing the prices of services offered. In 2024, the funeral home settled the suit, agreeing to pay $600,000 to clients and pay $100,000 in civil penalties. The management for the funeral home, which has eight locations across New York City, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the new lawsuit. ...read more read less