If You are a Spouse, Child, Grandchild, Parent, or Sibling of an Individual Who Donated Their Body to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program,
or
If You are the Person Identified by the Donor in an Instrument of Anatomical Gift, Your Rights May Be Affected by a Class Action Lawsuit.

A Court authorized this website.

A proposed $53 million settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit. The people who sued are family members of individuals who donated their bodies to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program, as well as individuals named by donors in the Instrument of Anatomical Gift.

The Settling Defendants include President & Fellows of Harvard College (“Harvard”). The Plaintiffs allege that the Settling Defendants failed to safeguard the donated remains of deceased individuals. According to the lawsuit, this alleged failure allowed others to improperly remove, dismember, and sell some of those remains. The lawsuit alleges these actions caused emotional distress and uncertainty about what happened to loved ones’ remains. The Settling Defendants deny these allegations, and the Court has not decided who is right.

You may be eligible to receive a cash payment upon the submission of a valid Claim Form if any one or more of the following apply:

1. you are a spouse, registered domestic partner, child, parent, sibling, of a person who donated their body to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program and whose body left the Harvard Morgue and was sent for cremation or burial on or between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2023;

2. you are the person designated on the Instrument of Anatomical Gift of a person who donated their body to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program and whose body left the Harvard Morgue and was sent for cremation or burial on or between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2023;

3. you received a letter from Harvard addressed to you regarding the subject matter of the lawsuit on or about June 14, 2023, and/or on or about December 7, 2023, in connection with a person who donated their body to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program and whose body left the Harvard Morgue and was sent for cremation or burial on or between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2023;

4. you are a grandchild of a Donor whose body left the Harvard Morgue and was sent for cremation or burial on or between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2023; or

5. you are a named Plaintiff in one of the consolidated cases in this matter with claims relating to a person who donated their body to the Harvard Anatomical Gift Program and whose body was sent for cremation or burial on or between January 1, 2003, and March 31, 2023.

Your legal rights may be affected depending on whether you act or do not act. Please read this website and the Notice carefully.

These rights and options—and the deadlines to exercise them—are explained in the Notice and on the FAQs page.