A daughter is suing a Jewish funeral company because they buried her mother next to a stranger in the incorrect cemetery and clothed her in a different woman’s clothing.
The horrifying discovery was revealed on October 5, 2020, during the ceremony at Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels in Ocean Township, New Jersey. It utterly frightened the mourners, with one lady in her 90s almost passing out.
After a protracted illness, Janet Kay died away on October 3, 2020, at the age of 83. Her daughter, Robin Kay Lord, is now suing the funeral home for the subpar work, which, according to her, has traumatized her.
‘It is intolerable. It is recklessness and a total disregard for the dead,’ Lord said.
She waited nearly two years to file the suit hoping that the funeral home would take accountability, but she said the family’s requests went ignored. ‘We tried many times to have reasonable discussions with them but they would never respond’ she said.
The one time their lawyer did get through to someone at Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels they responded: ‘We paid for a luncheon now what else do you want us to do?’
That was the last straw for Lord, who decided to go ahead and file the civil suit.
According to Lord, who is also a criminal defense attorney, in New Jersey it is up to the jury to assess how much money is owed the complainant, and said that she hopes that happens sooner than later.
She added: ‘I want them to be accountable so another family doesn’t have to go through this.’
Janet Kay, 83, passed away on October 3, 2020 after suffering a long illness. Robin Kay Lord, the deceased woman’s daughter, is now suing the funeral home for the botched job, that she told DailyMail.com has left her traumatized
Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels in Manalapan, New Jersey, is a funeral home within the Dignity Memorial® network of funeral and cemetery service providers. The funeral home claims on their website that ‘when you choose us for your funeral needs, you not only receive the compassionate care you expect from a locally operated establishment, but also the value you deserve’
Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Funeral Chapel in Manalapan, New Jersey, is a member of the Dignity Memorial® network of funeral and cemetery service providers.
According to its website, all of its services are ‘designed to help you through one of the most personal and challenging stages of life.’
‘We are dedicated to working with you one-on-one to plan your loved one’s memorial in accordance with the funeral and burial customs that are important to you.’
The funeral chapel did not return a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
According to Lord, when her mother died an employee from the funeral home came to her New Jersey home to pick up her mother’s body and the clothes she had asked them to dress her in before she was laid to rest.
Lord said that she gave the person a purple pant suit and long gold necklace her mother always wore, and explained that she even gave them a Sharpie to write her mother’s name on the outside of the bag that held her personal belongings.
‘I remember specifically telling them to make sure that she is wearing the clothes I gave them because if they opened the coffin and she was wearing someone else’s clothes then it would be a complete nightmare.’
Lord said the employee ‘reassured’ her that they would ‘treat my mother with dignity and that the clothes would be placed on her after the traditional thara [the washing of the boy that is done in the Jewish religion].’
When a Jewish person dies they need to be buried the next day, but Lord said the funeral home said they would not be able to bury her mother until the two days later on October 5.
The family had a gravesite burial for Kay and about sixty people gathered to say their final goodbyes.
Lord said the mourners and the Rabbi waited at the cemetery for her mother’s coffin to arrive but it never showed. When she called the funeral home asking them where her mother was she learned the horrific news.
‘They were stuttering and stammering, I told them to “cut the s**t and to tell me where my mother is.”‘
She said the funeral home Facetimed her and that is when she saw a woman in a coffin dressed in her mother’s clothes.
Lord nearly fell to the ground in hysterics. ‘I was screaming: ‘What did you do to her? Where is my mother?’ she said.
‘They said they had no idea where she was.’
Later that day, she learned that her mother was buried in a different Jewish cemetery in North Jersey in a grave that was next to a complete stranger. She also learned the upsetting news that her mother was wearing another person’s clothes and someone else’s wedding ring.
The grieving daughter later learned that the bodies were mixed up because her mother died on the same day as another woman who was prepared for burial at the same time.
‘They did the washing together and that is when their bodies were switched.’
Lord said the funeral home lied when originally asked that their mother be buried on October 4, the day after she died, as she was buried on that day – in the wrong grave.
In order to correct the bungled situation, Kay’s body had to be exhumed and her daughter had to ID her decomposing body.
Lord said her mother would never leave the house without lipstick on. But, when she looked in the coffin it was ‘all over the mouth’
‘It looked like a five-year-old had put it on,’ she said.
Lord, who is still grieving the profound loss of her mother, said that she put her faith and confidence in the funeral home to ‘do the right thing’ and take good care of her loved one.