$50 Million Lawsuit Filed After NJ Funeral Home Placed Wrong Body in Mother's Casket Mid-Burial

Kyung Ja Kim, 93, died on November 10, 2021. Three days later, her family gathered at Promise Church in Leonia, New Jersey, for her funeral service. A procession carried her casket to a cemetery in Valhalla, New York, where cemetery workers began lowering it into the ground.

As the casket descended, the funeral director stopped the service and had workers pull it back out. The body inside was not Kyung Ja Kim. The woman in the casket was approximately 20 years younger and had her own teeth. Kyung Ja Kim wore dentures, and the lawsuit alleged that funeral home staff had placed her dentures under the pillow alongside the wrong body.

Kyung Ja Kim's daughter, Kummi Kim, had noticed something was wrong hours earlier, at the viewing that morning. She told the funeral director the body did not look like her mother. Staff dismissed her concern, suggesting the differences were due to embalming and makeup. Kummi Kim accepted that explanation. The funeral director later admitted the error after showing the family a photograph of the actual Kyung Ja Kim, who had been left at the Ridgefield funeral home.

The mix-up involved two facilities operated by the same director: Central Funeral Home of New Jersey and Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services. The funeral home's initial response was to offer the family a $9,000 refund for funeral costs. The family rejected it.

In July 2022, attorney Michael Maggiano of Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi filed a $50 million lawsuit in Bergen County Superior Court on behalf of Kummi Kim and three other family members. The complaint alleged loss of the right to interment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, and breach of contract. At a press conference, Maggiano attributed the incident to 'failures to follow best practices and have a chain of custody.' The family stated they intended to donate any proceeds to two Korean churches where Kyung Ja Kim had been active.