With Issues No. 10 through 15 of the FTC’s Funeral Rule notice, the agency begins inquiries on how to ensure the online shopper has access to all of the funeral home’s price lists before making any selections. Would it be sufficient to require the funeral home’s website to provide links for downloading the GPL (and
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The FTC’s Seven Areas of Concern: Funeral Rule Revisions
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance, Consumer Advocates
As discussed in our prior post, the FTC’s rulemaking notice for amending the Funeral Rule requests public comment on 40 Issues. Those 40 issues are grouped by the FTC in the following 7 categories of potential amendments:
- Electronic price disclosure – whether and how funeral providers should be required to display or distribute price information
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FTC’s “Forty Issues” and the Funeral Rule Comment Period: Time to Get Serious
By Bill Stalter on
By a posting made November 1, the Federal Trade Commission gave formal notice of its intent to revise the Funeral Rule and opened a 60 day comment period. The notice is quite lengthy and signals that that the FTC wants major revisions to the Funeral Rule that go well beyond whether to require the posting…
Triggering the Active Supervision Requirement: Harm to a Business Model
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Compliance
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission left states with a number of unanswered questions, including when a proposed regulation or discipline action would trigger a restraint of trade claim. In December 2015, the US District Court in Texas addressed that issue in Teladoc, Inc. v.
Active Supervision of An Industry Board: Let’s Start with What it Ain’t.
By Bill Stalter on
Last week we posted the Federal Trade Commission’s Active Supervision Guidelines for industry boards. The Guidelines set some substantial standards for the independent state agency or attorney general that provides supervision over an industry board. When that agency or attorney fails to satisfy the supervision requirements, the industry members are exposed to personal liability when…
State Funeral Boards and Oversight Standards: Meaningful Supervision
By Bill Stalter on
In this past week’s Memorial Business Journal, the NFDA’s general counsel offered insight on the FTC’s guidelines to state supervision of industry regulatory boards. In a decision that rocked state boards comprised of industry members, the United States Supreme Court affirmed a decision that had held members of the North Carolina Dental Board subject…
Federal Trade Commission: Cemeteries and Constructive Delivery
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries
Preneed planning often begins with the purchase of a cemetery plot or cremation niche. If that purchase includes a marker or monument, the cemetery will typically seek to deliver the marker so that it may avoid cost increases incurred with regard to granite and bronze. But, many of us do not like to be reminded…
Preneed Contracts: Where to Apply a Discount
By Bill Stalter on
It is common for a funeral home to offer a discount to a preneed contract purchaser when the sales price is to be paid in full at the time of purchase. However, funeral homes are often inconsistent in how the discount is applied to the preneed contract. We have seen the discount recorded as a…
KC Funeral Consumer Alliance: Cemetery Survey
By Bill Stalter on
The funeral industry may grumble about the FTC’s Funeral Rule, but two disclosures required by that law play important roles in the preneed transaction. The general price list is often used by funeral homes as a tool for comparing prices with the competition. And when a prearranged funeral is performed, the statement of goods and services…
Competing for Cremations: How low can I go?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cremation
Blame it on the economy, or on ‘unfavorable secular trends’, but as cremation rates continue to rise, operators need to consider their General Price List and their non-declinable basic service fee. In many parts of the country, competition has driven the price of the direct cremation far below the charge that the funeral home requires…