Automaker Chrysler filed a subpoena for tissue samples from a dead man who’d sued the corporation prior to his death. The deceased, Harold St. John, apparently died of mesothelioma, a lung disease most often caused by exposure to asbestos. St. John believed that the source of asbestos to which he was exposed was from brake linings he installed while working for his father’s auto repair shop 40 to 50 years ago. He’d filed suit against brake manufacturers Honeywell and Chrysler. 

Chrysler had asked the court for permission to obtain tissue samples, but the court order was not issued until the day of the funeral. The process server waited until after the funeral but before interment to serve the order, offending the grieving family who claim they caught completely unaware of Chrysler’s request.

St. John remains uninterred as his family continues to fight the court order; they claim that Chrysler has all the evidence it needs, given that St. John had undergone a lung biopsy while still alive.