VERO BEACH, Fla. — Two Vero Beach parents have filed an amended lawsuit against the City of Vero Beach, alleging their infant son's remains were accidentally disturbed during maintenance at a city-operated cemetery and then reinterred without their knowledge or consent.
The lawsuit centers on Crestlawn Cemetery, which is operated by the City of Vero Beach.
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Adam Chrzan and Tanya Crovo's son, identified only as "A.C.," died in August 2007 at 37 days old. According to the complaint, he was buried at Crestlawn Cemetery on Aug. 15, 2007, where his parents believed he had remained undisturbed for nearly 18 years.
The parents allege that sometime between the burial in 2007 and April 2025, maintenance or irrigation work was taking place near the burial site when heavy equipment breached the grave.
The lawsuit alleges A.C.'s "casket, contents, and remains were damaged and/or destroyed."
According to the complaint, someone acting in an official capacity for the City of Vero Beach then directed cemetery workers to collect the remains, place them into a new casket and reinter the child without notifying or obtaining consent from the parents.
The lawsuit claims the parents were deprived of the opportunity to participate in laying their son to rest again and were never informed that the burial site had allegedly been disturbed.
The amended complaint accuses the city and cemetery of tortious interference with a burial plot and human remains, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional misrepresentation, and fraudulent concealment.
The lawsuit also alleges the city failed to protect the burial site and failed to follow Florida laws and administrative rules governing cemetery maintenance, disinterment and the handling of human remains.
"The Defendant's conduct is outrageous and goes beyond all bounds of decency in a civilized society, is not dignified and is intolerable," the complaint states.
The parents say they did not learn what allegedly happened until April 2025. The lawsuit does not explain how they became aware of the alleged disturbance, but an attorney for the family told me that information could come out during the legal proceedings.
This amended complaint comes after a judge dismissed the family's original lawsuit. The dismissal was not a finding that the allegations were false. Instead, the court ruled the legal claims, as originally pleaded, could not proceed against the city under Florida law.
The City of Vero Beach declined to comment on the newly filed amended complaint.
However, in court filings responding to the original lawsuit, the city disputed the parents' allegation that irrigation work could have caused the damage.
The city's attorney submitted a survey stating there are "no irrigation lines adjacent to the burial plot of A.C." The filing says the closest sprinkler heads are approximately 10 feet north of the burial plot and about 40 feet south.
I asked the family's attorneys how they intend to prove the gravesite was disturbed without photographic evidence. They did not rule out the possibility of seeking to exhume the gravesite as part of the litigation.
A judge has not yet ruled on the amended complaint.
