This "Bigfoot" Dewar is custom-designed to contain four wholebody patients and five neuropatients immersed in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius. The Dewar is an insulated container which consumes no electric power. Liquid nitrogen is added periodically to replace the small amount that evaporate. Right,  the Alcor operating theater (Photo courtesy of Alcor Life Extension Foundation)

This is a lawsuit about a frozen head. And it involves Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan founder John Quinn.

On days like this, I love my job. I'm like Renee Zellweger in "Jerry Maguire": You had me at frozen head.

Still, this isn't just some esoteric oddball of a case. It also touches squarely on the right to decide in advance what will happen to your body after you die. 

Quinn and QE partner Diane Cafferata represent Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which bills itself as "the world's leading cryonics organization since 1972." 

Alcor is locked in a nasty fight with Kurt Pilgeram, whose father Laurence died in 2015 at age 90, leaving clear instructions that he wanted to be cryogenically frozen.

Alcor has Laurence's head—it's preserved at the non-profit's Arizona facility, stored under liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196°C—but has yet to be paid for its services.

Kurt wants the head back, to preserve (or not)  "as he deems appropriate." He also wants millions in damages from Alcor for emotional distress—in part, he's upset because only the head was preserved, and not his father's entire body. 

He also claims the non-profit engaged in financial elder abuse, "inducing elderly people to sign up for cryonic preservation under the terms of an agreement that are largely illusory."

Alcor on Tuesday fired back, seeking to set aside and vacate the court's probate order on Laurence's $16 million estate—a move that could leave Kurt with just $1 of inheritance.

But I'm getting ahead of myself … (groan).

Laurence Pilgeram, who had a PhD in Biochemistry and taught at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine, was involved in cryonics from its infancy. In 1971, he gave a talk at the Cryonics Conference in San Francisco ("Abnormal in-Vitro Oxidation and Lypogenesis Induced by Plasma in Patients with Thrombosis"), and joined Alcor as a "cryopreservation member" in 1991.

Which sorry, doesn't sound like Alcor tricked some gullible old man into signing up for cryonic preservation, even if Pilgeram was 67 at the time he became a member. I suspect the elder abuse claim is a non-starter.

David Tappeiner of Fell, Marking, Abkin, Montgomery, Granet & Raney, who represents Kurt Pilgeram, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Laurence died from an apparent heart attack on April 10, 2015 in Santa Barbara, California, and was found on a public sidewalk. His death was on a Friday, and according to Kurt, no one from Alcor returned his call over the weekend notifying them of his father's passing. 

Instead, Alcor didn't find out until Monday. Alas, when you're freezing a body, time is of the essence. 

Per Alcor's version of events, although medical and police personnel were aware of Laurence's Alcor bracelet, "he was taken to the medical examiner's office in Santa Barbara, as they did not understand Alcor's process. … Fortunately, no autopsy was performed which at least eliminated any invasive damage but the lengthy delay led to a straight freeze as the only remaining option."

Only Laurence's head (or "cephalon"—my new word of the day) was preserved, although his contract with Alcor called for a whole body freeze. 

According to Kurt, Alcor reps initially assured him that his father's entire body would be preserved. But two weeks later, he said he got a package in the mail which purportedly contained his father's cremated remains, minus the head. 

"Alcor arbitrarily, fraudulently and in bad faith elected to sever Mr. Pilgeram's head from his body," Tappeiner wrote in a cross complaint filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court in 2018. 

"In addition to failing to preserve Mr. Pilgeram's whole body," he continued, "Alcor had no right to cremate Mr. Pilgeram's remains." Instead, he said, the remains should have been sent to Laurence's next of kin.

None of this sounds good for Alcor, but there are other factors in play. 

Laurence had a $123,000 life insurance policy that named Alcor as the beneficiary. The proceeds were supposed to pay for the cryogenic procedure. But Kurt challenged the payout and the insurer filed a federal interpleader action. 

Kurt's initial concern was whether Alcor had in fact properly preserved his father's head. Alcor offered him an on-site inspection, but Kurt requested and received photographic proof. (Not included as an exhibit. I checked.)

Kurt and Alcor in 2015 agreed to dismiss the case, but the money remains in escrow—Alcor has not received a cent.

Two years later, Kurt proposed a new "settlement"—one where he gets all the life insurance money and Alcor gives him the head. In response, Alcor sued him in Santa Barbara Superior Court for failing to honor the terms of the 2015 agreement.

In the latest twist, Alcor in court papers filed on Jan. 14 says it has uncovered evidence of extrinsic fraud by Kurt and his brother Karl (who isn't named) and aided by attorney Erin Parks, a Santa Barbara solo practitioner. 

The Quinn team said Kurt, an administrator of the estate, didn't provide Alcor with official notice of the probate proceeding, as required under California law and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Instead, "Alcor was led to believe that the interpleader action would be settled, and the money released, upon a showing by Alcor that Laurence's cephalon was in fact being preserved by Alcor," they wrote. "These misrepresentations and omissions, along with the fact that they did not give Alcor notice of the probate proceeding, deprived Alcor of its day in court."

"As a direct result of his misconduct, Alcor has accrued millions of dollars of damages in defending itself against a frivolous and malicious lawsuit challenging the cryonic preservation that everyone in that suit agrees Laurence wanted and in enforcing Laurence's right to have his remains cryonically preserved as he undisputedly intended," the filing states.

Kurt also allegedly told the probate court that his father died without a will, and concealed Laurence's testamentary directions regarding the disposition of his remains. These included a no-contest clause that specifically disinherited anyone who attempted to interfere with his cryonic preservation.

"If any heir contests, attacks, or acts contrary to the directions of this instrument, I give that heir the sum of one dollar ($1.00)," the provision states.

By challenging Alcor, the Quinn team argues, Kurt "has acted directly contrary to Laurence's testamentary desires… Due to the operation of the testamentary directions, Kurt is entitled to no more than a dollar, and is wrongfully in receipt of any and all amounts more than one dollar, from Laurence's estate."

Trial is set for September before Judge Donna Geck in Santa Barbar