For two years, man thought ashes were wife's. A former Huntsville resident is suing Laughlin Service Funeral Home alleging he was given the remains of a stranger after his deceased wife was cremated in 2006. The lawsuit was filed electronically in Madison County Circuit Court on Saturday on behalf of Richard Henry Parrott. Parrott seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Parrott's lawyer, J. Brent Burney of Decatur, did not return phone calls for comment.

John Purdy, owner of the funeral home, said Thursday he did not know about the lawsuit. Parrott and his lawyer have not notified him about the alleged problem, he said.

For two years the urn remained on a shelf in Parrott's home, the suit says. Parrott did not discover the mix-up until he was packing to move to Orlando, Fla.

"On or about Oct. 29, 2008, while in the process of moving, the plaintiff (Parrott) discovered, for the first time, a label on the bottom of the urn that stated the urn contained the cremated remains of a stranger," the lawsuit said.

According to an obituary published in The Times in 2006, Julia "Judy" May Parrott, 82, died on Sunday, Dec. 3. She had traveled all over the world as a military wife and was survived by her husband, a son, a daughter, five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

Parrott hired Laughlin to take care of his wife's remains on the Sunday she died, the lawsuit says.

A visitation service was held at Laughlin on Dec. 6 followed by a memorial service on Dec. 8 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.

The cremation was carried out beginning at 4 p.m. on Dec. 8 through about 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 9, the lawsuit says. At the funeral home Dec. 9, Parrott signed a release form and picked up an urn that he thought contained his wife's remains. He returned home and placed the urn on a shelf where it remained for two years.

The funeral home breached its duties to Parrott by either mislabeling the urn or delivering the wrong urn, the lawsuit says.