By Chantal Da Silva -
NBC News
A New Jersey family is suing a funeral home for $50 million because they say they nearly buried the wrong person due to a "devastating" mix-up while trying to lay their 93-year-old mother to rest.
Family members of Kyung Ja Kim, who passed away on November 10, 2021, said they knew something was wrong when they gathered for their loved one's open casket funeral at Leonia's Promise Church on November 13.
In their lawsuit, filed on Monday, they allege that Kyung Ja Kim's daughter, Kummi Kim, informed the funeral director that the person lying in the coffin did not resemble her mother.
The funeral director
"responded with a very clear expression of denial and dismay
at the question, as if Plaintiff Kummi did not appreciate a different appearance after death," the suit states.
Blackley Funeral Home in Ridgefield, New Jersey. Google maps via NBC News
Consequently, the daughter thought her mother's "altered appearance" might be due to the embalming process and the application of heavy mortuary makeup and fake hair, as well as "some kind of filler like Botox."
The family alleges that the funeral director did not admit a serious mistake until the mother's casket was put in the wrong place.
Not only that, but the family told the NBC News affiliate in New York that the person in the casket, who also
shared Kim's name, turned out to be about 20 years younger than the deceased they were crying
and had natural teeth, while Kyung Ja Kim wore false teeth.
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"To add to the shock and disgust at the mishandling of the decedent's body," funeral home employees placed the false teeth under the casket pillow with the wrong body inside, the suit says.
The body mistakenly placed in Kyung Ja Kim's coffin had also been dressed in her mother's clothes.
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The family sued Central Funeral Home of New Jersey and Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services Inc, both located in Ridgefield, for $50 million.
The two funeral homes operate in the same center.
The document also names two individuals as defendants, including the person who was allegedly the funeral director.
If they win the lawsuit, the family has said they plan to donate the money to two churches that their mother held dear.
They allege that the funeral home workers did not follow their own policies to ensure the correct identification of the bodies.
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As a result, Kyung Ja Kim's loved ones
"suffered great shock, emotional distress, and psychological pain
upon learning that her mother's passing had not been properly celebrated, but rather a stranger's body was carrying her clothes and personal effects. "
of the deceased and had been placed in her coffin by mistake," the lawsuit warns.
The plaintiffs allege that the funeral home did not immediately inform the other family involved of the mix-up, an allegation that NBC News could not independently verify.
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Kyung Ja Kim was buried a day after the incident, with an “impromptu funeral” held at the Central Funeral Home facility, the lawsuit states.
But her family was never able to fulfill her “last wish” to have a religious service with Sunday mass.
"I feel very sad and angry that I couldn't fulfill his last wish, that he wanted to say goodbye to us at church," Kummi Kim told NBC New York.
Funeral homes Central Funeral Home of New Jersey and Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News.
NBC New York has contacted funeral home owners multiple times, but they also have not responded to requests for comment.
The family said they received an offer to refund the $9,000 check
they paid for the funeral service.
Although they obtained a verbal apology from the funeral homes, they asserted that a refund and an apology are not enough.
The lawsuit claims loss of burial rights, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, mishandling of the decedent's body, and breach of contract.