Contact your lawmakers to support and vote for Sevilla's Law.
Contact your lawmakers to support and vote for Sevilla's Law.
Sevilla’s Law started when Sevilla, our beloved cat, passed away after succumbing to Lymphoma. We contracted to have a private, individual cremation, to have a final visit, to be in attendance during the cremation process and to have her ashes returned to us. The funeral home/pet crematorium “cremated” her before these contracted items could take place. When we asked what happened, the funeral home/pet crematorium told us there had been “a catastrophic failure of process.” We were concerned, because of this, and other misinformation, and had a forensic analysis performed on the cremains. The DNA analysis indicated that the University of Florida forensic scientists were unable to determine the ashes were those of a cat but found glass, metal and, most disturbing, human DNA.
Sevilla passed on February 12, 2019 and, to this day, the funeral home/pet crematorium has not had the common decency to explain what happened to Sevilla. We have been ignored and dismissed. Left with neither Sevilla or any answers. All we have are questions.
Our family turned to the State of Florida Division of Funeral, Cemetery and Consumer Services. It added insult to injury when their investigation determined the funeral home/pet crematorium did not violate any Florida Statutes because none exists! A catch 22.
Still trying to find answers, our family filed a civil lawsuit and found ourselves up against a company with 21 alias (shell companies) and high-powered corporate attorneys. The judge assigned to Sevilla’s case already handled all the funeral home/pet crematorium lawsuits and was overseeing 8 of their legal proceedings simultaneously, yet, she did not recuse herself for conflict of interest. She dismissed our case without any explanation or even granting our attorney a hearing.
Sentimentality aside, focus on the consumer protections this bill provides. Sevilla’s Law sets forth penalties for unlawful deceptive acts and provides private right of action to protect the consumer while providing accountability and transparency. As consumers, it should be our right to have recourse for someone deceptively taking our money for services not rendered.
More than 70% of U.S. households own a pet. Pet death care is a $1.3 billion dollar business with a projected annual growth rate of 11.63%. In FL, one out of two households have at least one pet.
What this experience showed us is the State of Florida already has the investigative infrastructure in place but needs Sevilla’s Law to be passed into Florida Statute so the State can pursue violators and provide accountability.
We want to ensure this heartache does not happen to other pet parents.
Out of this tragedy, let there be change. This is Sevilla’s Legacy.
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