## Facts

- Menorah Chapels at Millburn operated a funeral home marketed as a “Jewish Funeral Chapel.”
- Emanuel Needle, the decedent’s son-in-law, contracted with Menorah for funeral and related services for an Orthodox Jewish decedent who died on a Friday.
- Because the Sabbath began at sundown, the funeral was scheduled for Sunday, February 21, 1999.
- The parties’ documents (including a general price list and signed forms) reflected that Needle requested, and Menorah agreed to provide, Orthodox ritual services including continuous shmeerah (a vigil) by shomerim.
- The written statement of goods and services indicated six shomerim shifts at a total price of $900.
- Menorah subcontracted shomerim through a burial society; only three of six shifts allegedly appeared, beginning Saturday evening after the Sabbath ended.
- Needle and his family were allegedly not informed of the shortfall until shortly before the funeral, after preparation and movement of the body.
- Menorah billed for services with a credit for the missed shomerim shifts; Needle refused to pay, asserting material breach.
- Menorah sued for the contract price; Needle counterclaimed for breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation, and emotional distress.
- The trial court granted summary judgment to Menorah for the price (minus a small credit), dismissed Needle’s counterclaims, and awarded Menorah attorney’s fees.
- Needle appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether adjudicating a dispute about contracted-for Orthodox ritual services requires religious abstention or may proceed under neutral principles of law.
2. Whether the funeral-services agreement was severable such that Menorah could recover the contract price minus a credit for the missing shifts.
3. Whether the alleged failure to provide continuous shmeerah and the late disclosure could constitute a material breach affecting contract and restitutionary recovery.
4. Whether emotional-distress damages are legally available for breach of a funeral-services contract under New Jersey law.
5. Whether summary judgment for Menorah and the related attorney’s fee award were proper.

## Decision

- Reversed the judgment for Menorah and the dismissal of Needle’s counterclaims; remanded for further proceedings.
- Held the dispute could be resolved under neutral principles of contract law without deciding religious doctrine.
- Concluded the funeral-services agreement was a single, integrated contract rather than a set of independent, severable bargains.
- Determined that the alleged shortfall in shmeerah and lack of timely notice could support a finding of material breach, making summary judgment for the contract price improper.
- Held that emotional-distress damages may be recoverable for breach of a funeral-services contract; dismissal of that claim at summary judgment was error.
- Reversed the attorney’s fee award because Menorah’s prevailing-party status was no longer established.

## Legal Principles

- Courts may enforce agreements involving religiously motivated services when the controversy can be decided using neutral principles of law and without interpreting religious doctrine.
- A nondivisible contract generally cannot be treated as if its components are independently enforceable; substantial nonperformance may bar recovery of the contract price.
- A breaching party to a nondivisible service contract may be limited to restitution/quantum meruit for the reasonable value of services actually rendered rather than the unit contract price.
- Materiality of breach may turn on the significance of the unperformed obligation within the overall bargain and on conduct such as failing to give timely notice that prevents mitigation or cure.
- In the funeral-services context, emotional-distress damages may be available for breach of contract because emotional harm is a foreseeable consequence of defective performance.

## Conclusion

The appellate court held that a dispute over promised Orthodox funeral rituals could be tried under ordinary contract doctrines, treated the agreement as nonseverable, and ruled that alleged nonperformance and late disclosure could constitute a material breach affecting both payment and counterclaims, including a potentially viable claim for emotional-distress damages; it therefore reversed summary judgment and the related fee award and remanded for trial.


Menorah Chapels at Millburn v. Needle, 386 N.J. Super. 100, 899 A.2d 316 (App. Div. 2006)