The New York Citys only mortuary school claims its been stiffed by the Medical Examiners Office on a steady supply of fresh corpses.

American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service, or AAMI, filed a Manhattan Supreme Court petition this week saying the MEs Office is violating city law, which requires it to release unclaimed bodies to the school 14 days after death.

The Hells Kitchen school is asking that a judge order the MEs Office to start providing corpses again as its done for the last 50 years.

The dearth of the dearly departed began in June 2014 without any warning or formal notice, AAMIs president Mary Margaret Dunn wrote in court papers.

Dunn said the schools national accreditation is in jeopardy and that students degrees are being put on ice because they must perform at least 10 clinical embalmings in order to graduate.

More than 450 students are currently enrolled at AAMI to become funeral directors or professional embalmers.

In the interim, the school has been relying on the haphazard availability of bodies from private funeral homes.

Notice that a body is available can be as short as two hours, the petition said. A suddenly available body could require a clinical embalming on an evening or on a weekend, with short notice to faculty and student alike.

Brian S. Sokoloff, the attorney representing AAMI, said the lack of bodies is a dead serious matter.

The tendency might be giggle at a story like this but it creates a hardship, he said. AAMI is the only mortuary school in the five boroughs. Its got a great reputation. [But] its becoming a problem for them.

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ME stiffed mortuary school on supply of fresh bodies: petition