In May, suit was filed in a state trial court in Dearborn, Michigan by a local mosque which claims that a cemetery is attempting in breach of contract to double the price of grave space for mosque members during the COVID-19 emergency. On July 2, the mosque filed a motion (
full text) for summary judgment on its breach of contract claim. The allegations in
American Moslem Society v. Midwest Memorial Group, LLC, (MI Cir. Ct., filed 7/2/2020), are that the mosque entered three separate contracts over the years for the purchase of a large number of graves at a discount price, and then made the graves available to its members when needed by them. The mosque has paid $380,000 for 608 of the 1000 graves acquired under its latest contract. The cemetery now contends that the mosque must pay in advance for all 1000 graves before it may use any of them. Plaintiffs' motion for Summary Disposition alleges in part:
Defendant's unjustified refusal to allow burials in AMS III at a time of great suffering and need in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly part of a grossly improper attempt to shake down Plaintiff and its members. Defendant's April 14 letter cynically proposes a simple "cure" for the problem. Plaintiff either 1) pays the amount of $353,750 remaining ..., or 2) waives its rights under the 2017 Contract and enters into a new contract in which the cost of graves ... is roughly doubled.
... Defendant's demands are particularly coercive in light of its knowledge that the AMS community is extraordinarily tight knit and places a high premium on having its loved ones buried in close proximity to each other and to their mosque, which is located adjacent to the cemetery.
Detroit News reports on the lawsuit.
