Jamal Abdur Salaam, a Twin Cities educator who served in St. Paul schools for 24 years and was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare autoimmune neurological disorder, two years after his death, his family has filed a lawsuit against Estes Funeral Chapel in Hennepin County District Court alleging a lack of respect for Islamic funeral traditions following his death. The lawsuit alleges that Estes failed to place his casket into a burial vault that was too small and caused his body to seize up and fall out. The family is seeking damages in excess of $50,000. All defendants deny the allegations. The case raises a legal question: What liability do companies entrusted with end of life ceremonies have to families when things go wrong?