Obituary website selling unauthorized materials upsets family

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Karen Hoff is a mother dealing with the depths of grief after losing her youngest daughter, Carolyn, on March 21.

"She was only 38, you know," Karen Hoff told FOX 9. "I’m beyond grief and this isn’t helping at all, what I’m going through with this."

Carolyn Hoff’s official obituary rewritten

What we know:

Carolyn Hoff’s unauthorized obituary appeared on a website called Echovita, operated by a company in Canada.

It was rewritten and listed Carolyn as being from Richfield. She actually lived in Minneapolis, while her funeral home that posted the original obit, where the information was taken from, is in Richfield.  Her parents live in Prior Lake.

"I felt that they were using Carolyn and using the family’s grief to make money," said Karen.  "Honestly right away, that’s what I felt."

What’s most upsetting to Karen are the options to buy flowers, pay to light virtual candles or to donate to plant memorial trees.

All of it without the family’s knowledge or approval. 

"And now many people in this situation would say, ‘Oh whatever, you know?’ But this makes me so mad that they take advantage of somebody in this situation," said Karen.

Third-party obit sights under scrutiny

The backstory:

The website, echovita.com, has been the focus of a number of news stories in Canadian media, sharing similar stories of families angered over the practice of repurposing obituary information.

In February, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario, which regulates the funeral industry in that province, issued a consumer warning about this company and others like it, telling the public to be well aware before they click to purchase a memorial.

A similar company, called After Life, lost a $20-million lawsuit several years ago for copyright infringement, since it simply copied and pasted obituaries.  Now, third-party obituary websites will rewrite the obits to avoid the same legal issue.

Company defends their service

What they're saying:

In a statement of FOX 9, Echovita says it "centralizes, aggregates and amplifies publicly available obituaries on the Internet to inform the public of someone’s passing. In other words, our mission is to make public information more easily accessible, free of charge."

They also tell us any family with concerns should contact them and they will promptly respond.

Karen Hoff is doing more than that, preparing to file a complaint with the Minnesota Attorney General. She believes the practice is deceptive by soliciting memorial sales that families may never know about.

"Oh, they messed with the wrong grieving mother in this case," Karen said.