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Harvard moved Friday to dismiss a class action lawsuit brought by families affected by the mishandling of human remains at Harvard Medical School.
The University claimed immunity from legal action in nine consolidated cases alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and infliction of emotional distress.
The class action lawsuits were filed after former morgue manager Cedric Lodge was indicted in June for stealing and transporting human remains from the morgue at the Anatomical Gift Program.
Harvard cited the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which governs how anatomical gifts can be made, to argue that it acted in “good faith” to comply with donors’ wishes, granting it immunity under the law.
Harvard lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Kenneth W. Salinger — the judge hearing the case — has not yet ruled on the motion but raised questions about whether the immunity clause extended to the use of the anatomical gifts or protected only the donation process itself.
Lawyers representing the affected families argued that the law protected only the donation and that Harvard’s interpretation of the clause was too broad.
“The statute does not go so far as to afford blanket immunity to donees for anything that happens to the body after donation,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.
“We have alleged bad faith through Cedric Lodge. Cedric Lodge is Harvard, whether they want to be married to him or not,” said Jeffrey N. Catalano, a lawyer representing the families.
“The fact that [Lodge] did something which Harvard admits is egregious doesn’t insulate them,” Catalano said in a Sunday interview with The Crimson. “In fact, it just kind of implicates them.”
The original class action suit — filed in June by Keches Law Group — argued that “Harvard and HMS owed a duty of care to the families of those who donated their bodies.”
“Harvard and HMS breached its duty of care and was negligent when it failed to take reasonable steps in the hiring, training, supervision, and retention of defendant Cedric Lodge,” the original lawsuit said.
Catalano said if Harvard’s immunity claim is successful, it will discourage people from donating to the HMS Anatomical Gift Program.
“If they thought that institutions like Harvard could never be held accountable for that conduct, they might say to themselves, why should I donate my body if I can’t be sure it’s not going to end up in a gift shop?” he said.
—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.
—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.
