St. Joseph Abbey triumphs in casket sales lawsuit because state improperly shielded funeral industry, judge says
Published: Thursday, July 21, 2011, 4:13 PM Updated: Thursday, July 21, 2011, 6:14 PM
View full sizeDeacon Mark Doudrain, Attorney Evans Schmidt, Father Charles Benoit and Abbot Justin Brown, hidden at right, rear, carry simple handmade wooden caskets back to the truck following a press conference on the steps of the U.S. District Court last August, when they announced a federal lawsuit for their rights to sell the caskets."I'm not sure it has totally hit me after three years of fighting this thing," Coudrain said shortly after word of the judge's decision spread. "I'm hoping it's all over now."
Since the 1960s, state statutes carrying thousands of dollars in fines and up to 180 days' days imprisonment restricted coffin sales to those who had paid the expensive fees and met the stringent requirements necessary for a Louisiana Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors license.
However, last August, the abbey and leaders Coudrain and Abbot Justin Brown sued in U.S. District Court for the right to conduct such business without a license from state regulators.
Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. affirmed their case Thursday by determining that the state can no longer enforce those restrictions because they violate the American Constitution's clauses of due process and equal protection.
"Simply put there is nothing in the licensing procedures that bestows any benefit to the public in the context of the retail sale of caskets," Duval's decision read. "The license has no bearing on the manufacturing and sale of coffins. It appears that the sole reason for these laws is the economic protection of the funeral industry," which he wrote is not "a valid government interest."
State funeral industry lawyer Preston L. Hayes said that he expects his clients to appeal the decision to the federal 5th Circuit Court, also in New Orleans. If Duval's decision stands there, they can then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviews only a very small minority of cases.
"We disagree with Judge Duval's decision," Hayes added. "We feel that the evidence introduced at (an early June) trial showed there is a rational basis for the law."
Scott Bullock, who formed part of the Benedictine monks' legal team, countered with praise for Duval's striking down an "irrational" law.
"The Abbey will be able to lawfully sell their caskets to willing consumers," said Bullock, a lawyer for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice. "That is a great victory for the monks, for the U.S. constitution, and for Louisiana consumers."
Woodshop provokes regulators
St. Joseph opened a $200,000 woodshop on All Saints Day in 2007 to sell cypress funeral boxes for $1,500 to $2,000, which is less expensive than some caskets from typical funeral homes. They counted on the sales to finance medical and educational needs for more than 30 monks.
But the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors mailed a cease-and-desist letter to the abbey citing Louisiana before it sold even a single casket.
The abbey defied the missive and began vending its caskets anyway. It petitioned state legislators for help, but funeral directors and their supporters convinced the Legislature to defeat any proposed measures.
The monks then launched their suit, which notably did not challenge a separate state statute preventing third-party casket sales to healthy people who are planning their final arrangements well ahead of time. Among the regulators named as defendants are Andrew Hayes, Belva M. Pichon, Craig G. Gill, Kelly Rush Williams, Louis Charbonnet III, Margaret Shehee, Patrick H. Sanders, Paul "Wes" Castille and Wall V. McKneely. State law requires almost all board members to work in the funeral industry.
Brief but decisive trial
During a half-day trial earlier this summer, Brown and Coudrain swore that they did not aspire to inherit the other main functions of a licensed funeral parlor, such as planning services or embalming remains.
An Ohio-based college economics professor testified that there seemingly was no evidence that the state's consumers were protected by being limited to purchasing caskets at licensed funeral homes.
That limitation appears to conflict with the Funeral Rule overseen by the Federal Trade Commission ensuring that consumers receive itemized price information and be told what merchandise and services are required and which are optional, justice institute co-counsel Jeff Rowes argued.
Coffins are not a requirement -- in fact, Louisiana residents opting to purchase one could do so from out-of-state discount retail stores or even online. But, if they wanted to purchase one in Louisiana, they were allowed to do so only from licensed funeral establishments.
That not only was illogical, but it also violated basic consumer rights, according to Bullock and Rowes.
The defendants' legal team of Hayes, George Recile and Michael Rasch attempted to prove with their witnesses that a victory by the monks would complicate the regulation of illegal, third-party sales to those not in immediate need of a funeral box.
Under the restrictions, grieving customers were also guaranteed to deal with expert industry professionals. Anyone dealing with nonlicensed vendors risked ending up with caskets that are too small for their loved ones' bodies; don't contain the odors or fluids produced by decomposition; or that don't fit in Louisiana's unique burial spaces, such as above-ground family tombs.
Those "sensitive" scenarios can delay funeral services, and they stand to be "pretty traumatic," veteran funeral home manager Billy Henry testified.
But it did not sway Duval, who favored the abbey several weeks after both sides filed routine post-trial briefs.
"We did not go into this trial because we wanted to make a statement or to in any way be in opposition to anyone," Abbot Brown said after the ruling was announced. "We went in simply because we felt that this was an unfair law."
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