Givnish v. Commonwealth, State Board of Funeral Directors

578 A.2d 545, 134 Pa. Commw. 146, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 393
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 20, 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 578 A.2d 545 (Givnish v. Commonwealth, State Board of Funeral Directors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Givnish v. Commonwealth, State Board of Funeral Directors, 578 A.2d 545, 134 Pa. Commw. 146, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 393 (Pa. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

DOYLE, Judge.

By order of this Court dated February 21, 1990, we granted reconsideration of our decision in Givnish v. State Board of Funeral Directors, 1989 WL 149792 (No. 419 C.D.1989 filed December 11, 1989). In that decision we had reversed the order of the Board which had revoked the license of John Givnish (Petitioner) to practice as a funeral director and funeral supervisor and imposed a $1,000.00 fine upon him. Upon further reconsideration of the matter, we now affirm the Board’s order in part and reverse in part.

Petitioner was a licensed funeral director and funeral supervisor in Pennsylvania and sold pre-arranged funeral service agreements for the Spencer T. Videon, Inc. Funeral Home (Videon). In early 1987 Videon sent out a “community safety program” mailer to approximately 60,000 residents in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Attached to the mailer was a peel off sticker containing emergency tele[150]*150phone numbers, i.e., fire, police, rescue, poison. It also had a postage paid card which offered a free emergency record guide and medical alert card to residents choosing to complete the card and return it to Videon. Albert Nello, a recipient of the mailer, completed it and returned it to Videon in early May, 1987. Petitioner telephoned Mr. Nello to inform him that he had received his card and to inquire as to whether he could visit Mr. Nello’s home to provide him with the information he had requested. Later, Petitioner met with Mr. Nello at his home and supplied him with a medical alert card and an emergency record guide. During this meeting Petitioner discussed pre-arranged funeral services with Mr. Nello. Petitioner explained that Videon’s pre-arranged plan permitted a purchaser to pay the funeral costs in installments, without interest, while freezing the cost of the funeral at the time of signing the contract. Mr. Nello informed Petitioner that his family had always used the Williams Funeral Home. Petitioner suggested “[w]hy don’t we do this. I’ll give you about a month to check it out. Give me $10.00 to hold it ... Williams does not offer a program like ours. They have pre-arrangements. Every funeral home offers pre-arrangements, to the best of my knowledge ... Fill out the agreement and take it to them and show it to them.” Board’s Findings of Fact Nos. 13 and 14. During the same conversation, Petitioner stated to Mr. Nello that he understood that Mrs. Williams had died, and that the Williams Funeral Home may be for sale. Board’s Findings of Fact No. 15. Mr. Nello then entered into a pre-arranged funeral service agreement with Videon and gave Petitioner $10.00 as a down payment to hold the agreement binding until he could compare it with the Williams plan.

The pre-printed agreement that Mr. Nello entered into with Videon is divided into two columns, each representing a separate agreement. Column A is entitled “Pre-arranged Funeral Service Agreement” (Agreement) and generally covers professional services of the funeral director and staff, use of the facilities and transportation charges. Col[151]*151umn B is entitled “Pre-arranged Funeral Merchandise Agreement,” which is not at issue in this matter.1 A clause appears under the itemized charges in Column A in the Agreement immediately above the purchaser’s signature line which states:

Thirty percent (30%) of the Total Purchase Price is Funeral Home’s charge for consulting with Purchaser and arranging and coordinating the funeral plans into this Agreement (the ‘Arrangement Fee’).

Another clause contained in the Agreement states that all funds received pursuant to the Agreement with the exception of the “Arrangement Fee” will be placed in an escrow or trust account at a banking institution in this Commonwealth. Mr. Nello subsequently notified Videon that he wished to cancel the Agreement and received a refund check of his $10.00 down payment. Had Mr. Nello not cancelled the Agreement, Petitioner would have retained thirty percent of the total purchase price of Column A, i.e., thirty percent of $1,760 or $528. The Board also found that Mr. Nello had not been shown the Agreement provision stating that thirty percent of the purchase price collected for arranging the funeral plans would not be placed in trust and that when Mr. Nello entered into the contract he believed that all of his money would be placed in a trust account. He also did not realize that if he had not cancelled [152]*152the Agreement he would have been charged for Petitioner’s visit to his home.

On March 17, 1988, the Board filed an Order to Show Cause against Petitioner alleging that he violated Section 13.218 of the State Board of Funeral Directors regulations 3 by defaming another funeral director,4 and Section 13(c) of the Funeral Director Law5 because he had used a contract for pre-arranged funeral services which provided that 30% of the total purchase price for funeral services selected would be retained by the funeral home for consulting and arranging the funeral plans. Petitioner filed an answer to the Order to Show Cause denying the violations. Following a hearing, the Board issued an Adjudication and Order on February 7, 1989, in which it dismissed the defamation charge against Petitioner, finding that the Commonwealth had failed to satisfy its burden of proof. The Board, however, held that Petitioner had violated Section 13(c) of the Funeral Director Law. The Board revoked Petitioner’s funeral director and funeral supervisor licenses and fined him $1,000. Petitioner filed an application for stay, which was granted by the Board by order dated March 20, 1989, pending the outcome of this appeal.

Section 13(c) pertinently provides:

No person other than a licensed funeral director shall, directly or indirectly, or through an agent, offer to or enter into a contract with a living person to render funeral services to such person when needed. If any such licensed funeral director shall accept any money for such contracts, he shall, forthwith, either deposit the same in an escrow account in, or transfer the same in trust to, a banking institution in this Commonwealth, conditioned upon its withdrawal or disbursement only for the purposes for which such money was accepted. This [153]*153subsection does not apply to a contract by a bona fide institution that it will provide professional funeral services for persons who may die while inmates of the institution, if such contract is made as a part of its contract for housing, maintaining and caring for its inmates. (Emphasis added.)

In Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association v. State Board of Funeral Directors, 90 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 175, 494 A.2d 67 (1985), aff'd per curiam, 510 Pa. 602, 511 A.2d 763 (1986), this Court interpreted Section 13(c) to require that one hundred percent of the funds collected by funeral directors for pre-need services and merchandise incidental to such services be placed in trust.

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Bluebook (online)
578 A.2d 545, 134 Pa. Commw. 146, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/givnish-v-commonwealth-state-board-of-funeral-directors-pacommwct-1990.