Androscoggin Jury Awards $5.5 Million After Crematorium Left Father's Body to Decompose Unrefrigerated for Weeks

Bruce Wurstle died on May 30, 2021, and his body was delivered the same day to Affordable Cremation Solution, a small Lewiston crematorium owned by Kenneth Kincer. His daughter, Marielle Bischoff-Wurstle, expected the remains to be handled with basic professional care. Instead, Kincer allowed the body to sit in an unrefrigerated basement alongside at least ten other decedents during a stretch of near-100-degree summer heat.

For more than two weeks, Bischoff-Wurstle could not reach the facility. When she finally made contact on June 9, she learned her father had not been cremated. Seven days later, the state of Maine notified her that his remains were in the custody of the medical examiner after authorities shut down the business. She had first learned what was happening through a televised news report: footage described reddish-brown fluid flowing into the drain of the basement where multiple bodies had been left to decompose. Kincer's response to his own staff when they raised the alarm had been to tell them to open the windows.

The state suspended Kincer's funeral license for ten years. He was never charged criminally. At least six civil suits followed, with some families settling before trial. Bischoff-Wurstle's case was the first to go to a jury.

Benjamin Gideon and Meryl Poulin of Gideon Asen LLC represented Bischoff-Wurstle at trial. The defense, led by James Haddow, did not contest that the mishandling occurred. Kincer himself acknowledged in court that his personal problems had affected how he ran the business. The trial turned on the extent of the harm: Bischoff-Wurstle testified that learning the details through news coverage left her with traumatic final images of her father that she could not displace.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours and returned a verdict of $5.5 million, $500,000 more than the amount the plaintiff's attorneys had requested. Kincer's insurer warned that its available funds were limited, raising questions about whether all six families would be made whole. No appellate reduction of the verdict has been publicly reported.