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Jahya
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HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- An Alaska woman, shocked to receive part of her dead father's leg in the mail instead of the gourmet "LobsterGram" she was expecting, has filed suit against the Houston, Texas, firm that sent it, alleging mental anguish.
LaMara Lane wants $1 million for breach of contract and the mental anguish that beset her after opening what she thought was a food gift delivered to her home in the Alaskan town of North Pole, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.
But Identigene Inc., which does DNA testing, said it was only following orders from a North Dakota judge when it shipped the leg to Lane last year.
"We have a court order that says send it to this place and this woman," Identigene President Caroline Caskey told Reuters. "I feel like I'm in 'The Twilight Zone.' "
The odd saga began in 2000 when George Semmens died in North Dakota. He left his $200,000 estate to Lane, who was his only child, but whose mother he never married.
A sister of Semmens challenged whether Lane was his daughter, which resulted in a North Dakota judge ordering his body exhumed for DNA testing.
Identigene confirmed that Lane was his daughter.
Tony Buzbee, an attorney for Lane, a 41-year-old teacher's aide married to a hunter, said the leg arrived in a container designed to keep contents cold, which led Lane to believe she had been sent a LobsterGram, a popular gift in the frozen north.
Buzbee told the Houston Chronicle that Lane was so shocked "she's had to store the bone and flesh in her neighbor's freezer."
Link to original article.
LaMara Lane wants $1 million for breach of contract and the mental anguish that beset her after opening what she thought was a food gift delivered to her home in the Alaskan town of North Pole, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.
But Identigene Inc., which does DNA testing, said it was only following orders from a North Dakota judge when it shipped the leg to Lane last year.
"We have a court order that says send it to this place and this woman," Identigene President Caroline Caskey told Reuters. "I feel like I'm in 'The Twilight Zone.' "
The odd saga began in 2000 when George Semmens died in North Dakota. He left his $200,000 estate to Lane, who was his only child, but whose mother he never married.
A sister of Semmens challenged whether Lane was his daughter, which resulted in a North Dakota judge ordering his body exhumed for DNA testing.
Identigene confirmed that Lane was his daughter.
Tony Buzbee, an attorney for Lane, a 41-year-old teacher's aide married to a hunter, said the leg arrived in a container designed to keep contents cold, which led Lane to believe she had been sent a LobsterGram, a popular gift in the frozen north.
Buzbee told the Houston Chronicle that Lane was so shocked "she's had to store the bone and flesh in her neighbor's freezer."
Link to original article.
