Jewish funeral home is sued after woman is buried in the wrong grave and in another person’s clothes: Horrifying mix-up was revealed at service where mourners screamed and 90-year-old nearly fainted

• Robin Kay Lord, the deceased woman’s daughter, told DailyMail.com she is now suing the funeral home for the botched job that has left her traumatized
• Janet Kay passed away on October 3, 2020 after suffering a long illness 
•  Bloomfield- Cooper Jewish Chapels located in Ocean Township, New Jersey  were responsible for the horrifying mix-up
• ‘It is intolerable. It is recklessness and a total disregard for the dead,’ Lord said hoping they will take accountability for the horror she and her family endured

A daughter is suing a Jewish funeral home after they buried her mother in the wrong cemetery – next to a complete stranger – and dressed in another women’s clothes.

The shocking discovery was made during the service on October 5, 2020 at Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels located in Ocean Township, New Jersey, which left mourners absolutely horrified with one woman in her 90s nearly fainting.  

Janet Kay passed away on October 3, 2020 at the age of 82 after suffering a long illness. Her daughter, Robin Kay Lord, is now suing the funeral home for the botched job, that she told DailyMail.com has left her traumatized.

‘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.  

‘I want them to be accountable so another family doesn’t have to go through this,’ she told DailyMail.com.

Janet Kay, 82,  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. She said that she also 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 we 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 ‘tahara’ [an ancient Jewish ritual of washing the body of a deceased person before they are buried].

A Jewish funeral usually takes place within one day following the date of death, according to traditions.

Lord had expected the funeral home to follow the custom, but instead the funeral home told her that they would not be able to bury her mother until two days later, the date was October 5. 

On that day, the family held a gravesite burial for Kay and about sixty people gathered to say their final goodbyes.

As they waited for the service to begin Lord grew concerned when her mother’s body did not arrive,

She said the mourners and the Rabbi waited at the cemetery for the coffin for nearly a half hour. When she called the funeral home asking them where her mother was that was when she learned the horrific news.

‘They were stuttering and stammering,’ she recalled. ‘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 strange woman in a coffin wearing her mother’s purple suit, the long gold chain she always wore, and her mother’s wedding band.

Lord was besides herself and said she nearly fell to the ground. ‘I was screaming: ‘What did you do to her? Where is my mother?’ she asked them.  ‘Then they told me  they had no idea where she was.’ 

Lord said that she didn’t have to announce what happened to her mother because all the mourners that were there for the burial ‘heard her screams.’

She said the Rabbi continued the service but the service was held without her mother’s body. 

Later that day, she learned that her mother had been buried in a different Jewish cemetery in North Jersey in a grave that was next to a complete stranger during a Jewish holy holiday.

She also learned the shocking 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,’ she said. ‘Mind-boggling, just inconceivable.’ 

Lord told DailyMail.com that the funeral home had lied to her telling her that her mother could not be buried on October 4th the day after her death.

But, on October 4, she was buried in the wrong grave and at the wrong cemetary.

In order to correct the bungled situation, Kay’s body had to be exhumed and her daughter had to ID her decomposing body. ‘My mother’s body was not properly handled.’ 

Lord added that her mother would never leave the house without lipstick on and was devastated when she saw her mother’s lipstick ‘all over the mouth,’ while viewing the body.

‘It looked like a five-year-old had put it on,’ she said.

Lord, who is still grieving the profound loss, said she put her faith and confidence in the funeral home to ‘do the right thing’ and take good care of he loved one and they didn’t.’

On October 8, the family held a private ceremony, and Lord’s mother was placed in a mausoleum at a cometary in Marlboro, New Jersey, which was now her final resting place. 

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