SJC hears dispute over whether Uniform Anatomical Gift Act shields Harvard from morgue misconduct claims

Jeffrey Catalano, attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Supreme Judicial Court during oral argument that the trial court’s dismissal should be reversed because the plaintiffs were denied discovery and because the UAGA “is silent with regard to anything related to what happens in the morgue.”

Catalano told the justices the complaints allege persistent, repeated misconduct by a Harvard employee, morgue manager Cedric Lodge, over about five years and that the plaintiffs should be allowed to develop facts in discovery that plausibly show institutional accountability. He argued the UAGA governs the donative or transactional aspects of anatomical gifts, not the handling, storage, labeling or security of remains, and that if the statute did apply the admitted bad faith of the morgue manager would be imputed to Harvard under UAGA principles and the…