She missed her own funeral: Wrong body laid in casket, lawsuit says

Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 6, 2025

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ATLANTA — When her 95-year-old grandmother died in July 2023, Marva Lynch was in charge of the funeral plans.

Lynch provided Donald Trimble Mortuary with the clothing and wig that Lucy Mae Johnson was to wear for burial, according to a lawsuit filed in DeKalb County state court. But the day of Johnson’s funeral, it wasn’t the great-grandmother of seven whose body was in the casket, Lynch was told by a funeral director during the service.

“Upon information and belief, defendant dressed the wrong body in the wig and clothes provided by plaintiff for her grandmother’s burial,” Lynch said in the suit.

Lynch did briefly check the presentation of her grandmother’s body in the casket, but she felt trauma from her own mother’s death and didn’t look closely at the time, according to the suit. She also requested a closed casket for the service, so no one else checked the mortuary’s work, she said.

An attorney for Donald Trimble Mortuary, Forrest Johnson, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday he could not comment on specifics of the lawsuit.

“We have just received the lawsuit and are looking into the allegations,” he said. “Donald Trimble always strives to provide its customers with the highest level of care.”

The Decatur mortuary has been in business since 1983 and performs 750 services a year, according to its website.

“Most people expect to attend their own funeral,” Lynch’s attorney, Jonathan Johnson, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This poor lady was denied the chance.”

The two attorneys are not related, nor are they related to the family who has filed the lawsuit, despite all sharing the same last name.

The lawsuit requests a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages that include the $8,886.04 fee to the funeral home, plus emotional distress caused by the mix-up.

“Defendant further breached its contract with plaintiff by not having Ms. Lucy Johnson’s body at her own funeral,” Lynch said in the suit.

The lawsuit does not identify any of the funeral home employees, including the person who Lynch says informed her about the mix-up. Jonathan Johnson said the two bodies were put in the correct caskets before burial.

No information was available on whose body was in the casket for Lucy Johnson’s funeral. Her casket was closed for her service on Aug. 1, 2023.

In addition to Lynch, Lucy Johnson was survived by five other grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, her obituary states.

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