Grandson discovers wrong body in grandmother’s casket, New Jersey family lawsuit says
A grandson was “appalled” after approaching his grandmother’s casket at a viewing and discovering a different corpse was inside, according to a New Jersey family.
When his mother, the deceased woman’s daughter, approached the casket afterward, she confirmed the wrong body had been presented as Josephine Struble, a lawsuit filed against the F. John Ramsey Funeral Home of Franklin states.
“To twist the knife, (the daughter) noticed her mother’s jewelry on the unidentified corpse,” according to a complaint filed Sept. 13 in Sussex County Superior Court.
Struble’s two children, Gloria Shauger and Oliver Struble, are suing the funeral home on several counts including negligence and are accusing those in charge of mishandling their mother’s remains, the complaint states.
McClatchy News contacted the funeral home for comment on Sept. 21 and was awaiting a response.
Struble, who died at 85 on Dec. 28, 2021, is also survived by her husband, three sisters and a brother, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, according to her obituary.
The morning of Jan. 4, after the family had learned the wrong body was inside Struble’s casket during the viewing, the funeral home director told everyone to leave the room, the complaint states.
About 30 minutes later, the family was instructed to come back inside the room where they found Struble’s body “disheveled and bruised,” causing her children to become “distraught,” according to the complaint.
“The Plaintiffs have been denied their right to grieve the death of their late loved one and, further, have been forced to endure severe and ongoing emotional distress,” the complaint states.
It adds that the funeral home’s “failure to identify and present the correct corpse, constitutes intentional, extreme, reckless, and outrageous behavior, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency.”
“It’s an unfortunate reality that the incident is the last memory Oliver and Gloria will have of their mother,” Shauger and Oliver Struble’s attorney, Michael Shaw, told McClatchy News in a statement.
“There is nothing that can undo such a traumatic experience, however, our legal system is in place to hold those accountable for alleged wrongdoing and we hope the process leaves Josephine’s family with some sense of closure.”
Struble’s children are suing on these four counts, according to the lawsuit:
Negligence — mishandling human remains
Negligent infliction of emotional distress
Tort of outrage
Breach of contract
The lawsuit is seeking a trial by jury and compensatory damages including the costs of filing the lawsuit and attorney counsel fees.
The filing comes nearly two months after a separate family in an unrelated case filed a similar lawsuit against another New Jersey funeral home, McClatchy News previously reported.
In November 2021, a woman’s funeral was interrupted when her casket was being lowered into her grave with the wrong body inside, according to a complaint.
As a result, the family of Kyung Ja Kim filed a lawsuit against the Central Funeral Home of New Jersey and Blackley Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc. and were seeking $50 million.
The F. John Ramsey Funeral Home in Franklin is about 50 miles northwest of New York City.
This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 8:11 AM with the headline "Grandson discovers wrong body in grandmother’s casket, New Jersey family lawsuit says."
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