Golden Gate Funeral Home of TLC’s ‘Best Funeral Ever’ sued; families say remains mishandled
A Dallas-based funeral home is being sued by 17 families over allegations that it mishandled loved ones’ remains including cases where families said they received the wrong cremated remains and others received a decomposing body during funeral arrangements.
Golden Gate Funeral Home Texas, known for its starring role on TLC reality show “Best Funeral Ever” and its out-of-the-ordinary funeral services, has been the center of an investigation by the Texas Funeral Service Commission regarding whether the funeral home mishandled corpses.
Since Jan. 13 this year, 14 lawsuits have been filed against the funeral home, adding on to three filed in 2021. Handled by Hales & Sellers PLLC, attorneys Jack Hales and Ryan Sellers expect more fillings to come in.
Attorney Tonika Brown, with Macdonald Devin Madden Kenefick & Harris, who’s representing the funeral home, declined to comment on the allegations.
“Golden Gate is a family-owned and operated business that has provided care and services to the Dallas Community for generations,” Brown said in an emailed statement. “We will not comment on this pending litigation, except to state that we plan to respond to the allegations made against us and defend against these claims in a court of law.”
A spokesperson for the Texas Funeral Service Commission said she could not provide any information due to state confidentiality laws.
Episodes of “Best Funeral Ever” show Golden Gate “producing extravagant and unique funerals such as one in which remains are placed in a football and kicked over a goal post,” the law firm said in a news release.
“Golden Gate wants to market itself as the number one funeral home in the country but has shown a reckless disregard for industry standards necessary for providing a respectful farewell for these families,” Hales said. “It takes time for surviving family members to forget the pain of loss after the death of a loved one. For these families, the damage done by Golden Gate will forever taint their ability to move on and remember only fond memories.”
Last April, Golden Gate Funeral Home Texas, which has locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Tallulah, Louisiana, had six active complaints against it, Spectrum News reported, including a whistleblower complaint from a former employee that showed rotting bodies, “stacked in an un-refrigerated rental truck parked at Golden Gate this past summer during a period of high volume for all funeral homes during the pandemic.”
Jackie Carlisle attested that after her friend Jennifer Denise Hall died in June 2020 and after visiting the funeral home, nearly a week after Hall’s death, to view her remains, she was first brought the wrong remains. Then as the funeral home’s operators searched for Hall, Carlisle was given her friend’s body “partially decomposed,” according to the lawsuit.
“Hall’s abdomen was severely bloated, her skin had dark splotches and discoloration, and she was still wearing her hospital gown,” the lawsuit said.
Multiple families alleged an excessive delay in receiving loved ones’ remains, often for weeks or months, or that they were never notified when the ashes were available, which led to the remains being discarded.
Others alleged that they received two sets of ashes, causing doubt that the remains were the family’s loved one.
“For this scale of damage to have been done, Golden Gate has demonstrated a reckless disregard for the unique trust families in this community place on them,” Hales said.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 10:18 AM.
