A Korean family in New Jersey filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit against a funeral home after they allegedly put the wrong woman in her mother’s casket and then dug up the urn in front of shocked mourners.
According to the lawsuit, Ms. Kyung Ja Kim, of 93 years, was confused with another woman with the same last name, whom they dressed in their clothes and performed a ceremony in your name at “Central Funeral Home” in Ridgefield (NJ).
Her daughter Kummi Kim “rationalized” the difference in appearance in “the embalming process and the application of heavy mortuary makeup, false hair and/or some kind of padding such as Botox,” says the lawsuit, filed Monday by attorney Michael Maggiano.
In addition, her mother’s false teeth were placed under a pillow in the coffin with the body of the other woman who he had his own teeth, the morbid lawsuit claims, stated New York Post.
“The last memory of her was very painful, disturbing and horrible,” Kummi said at a press conference on Tuesday, according to a video published by News 12. The old lady died on 10 November 2021.
The lawsuit also names “Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services” and the funeral director as defendants. Haemin Gina Chong, who allegedly texted the other family to discuss their loved one’s physical features on the drive from Promise Church in Leonia, NJ to Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
Chong called Hummi during the transfer and allegedly offered to “turn all the cars around” if the daughter was not sure it was her mother in the coffin, but did not mention the conversations with the other family.
After they lowered the coffin to the ground , the funeral director shared photos that the Kim family confirmed were of her real mother, according to the lawsuit. Only then did Chong order the casket lifted from the grave and returned to the funeral home, the suit states.
A second service was held days after the clothing and possessions of the bodies, but many mourners who had traveled from as far away as Korea were unable to attend the “real” burial, the family said.
The funeral home has not commented to the press. Apparently they offered to reimburse the Kim family for the $9, dollars paid . Yoonsung Kim, another daughter of the deceased, said at the press conference that if the lawsuit were successful, she would not accept any money and would instead donate it to her church.
In a similar case, in March a judge in the Bronx (NYC) validated the lawsuit of a Latino family against a Brooklyn cemetery for the accidental burial of their mother, whose urn was opened during the ceremony.
In January, another Hispanic asked for $ 65 million dollars when suing a funeral home for “ mix” her mother with other dead in New York.
In 2020, during the deadly peak of the pandemic, several New York funeral homes were accused of hoarding corpses and then confuse them, generating lawsuits.