Woman attends grandmother’s funeral, discovers stranger in casket, lawsuit says
ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - A woman in Georgia filed a lawsuit against a funeral home after she said someone else was in her grandmother’s casket during the services.
The plaintiff, a woman from Maryland, said she hired Donald Trimble when her grandmother died in July 2023.
The funeral home provided a wig and clothes for her to be buried in. On July 31, the woman said she briefly saw a body wearing the provided items.
The grandmother’s closed-casket funeral was the next day.
But to her horror, the woman said the mortuary later told her they had dressed the wrong body in the wig and clothes. Somebody else was in the casket during the services.
Now, the woman is asking for punitive damages, plus coverage for both the court expenses and the nearly $8,900 she paid for the funerary services.
The suit accuses the funeral home of multiple offenses, including negligence, mishandling human remains and breach of contract.
“This is a strange case where a deceased person was unable to attend their own funeral,” said attorney Jonathan Johnson, who is representing the woman.
Johnson said the mortuary didn’t dispute what happened, but refuses to work with them on a solution.
“You have to care about the people who are entrusting you with the remains of their beloved family ,” Johnson said.
Atlanta News First reached out to Forrest Johnson, who is the attorney for Donald Trimble Mortuary. He said they are aware of the allegations of the complaint, but they can’t comment on specifics.
He added that the mortuary takes pride in the delivery of professional services to loved ones in their time of need.
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