Grand Rapids – After a woman’s casket slid off a gurney and her body fell onto the ground outside a Grand Rapids church, her children got an $80,000 legal settlement. Two funeral home employees were wheeling the casket of James, 67, inside the church for the funeral services when one worker momentarily left the gurney to hit a door-opening button. The gurney began to roll a little, and the wheels hit a crevice in the sidewalk, spilling one end of the casket onto the ground and allowing the body to fall out. The body was taken back to the funeral home for a new casket, and a family member was called to provide a new dress because some embalming fluid had stained the earlier dress. But the funeral went on as planned, with no delay. None of James’ children witnessed the mishap. Court records show the Rev. Nathaniel Moody apologized to the family and refunded the $8,793 funeral cost as well as paid for the burial. But James’ family ended up filing a lawsuit anyway, claiming emotional distress and anxiety and income loss. They alleged James was not in the lavender casket she chose or her favorite purple dress and was missing her glasses. They also said she “no longer had a peaceful look on her face.”
In football you have the Gronkowski boys. In acting, the Baldwin brothers. And now in bona-fide hustler funeral home swindling, you have the James kids.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been more in awe or more impressed than I am by Ellnora James’ 8 children. Getting hooked up with $10k each for absolutely nothing. Openly admitting that when their dead Moms tumbled down the funeral home stairs like a fresh persian rug getting laid out for the first time they were inside and didn’t witness anything whatsoever. The funeral home guys could have rolled her right back in like nothing happened but instead they were forthcoming and even paid for the funeral service and the basket. Normally a pretty classy move. But flat-out unwise when dealing with the James clan. You turn on the wrong blinker during her funeral procession and they’ll pop you for a rack each. Dump her body out across the parking lot and you’re lucky they had mercy enough on your soul to stop at 80 g’s.
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