New ideas to better the Old Line State
The Maryland Public Policy Institute Hails Court Ruling on Funeral Homes as a Victory for Consumers
Published on Monday, October 22, 2007
PRESS RELEASES
ROCKVILLE, MD, October 22, 2007: Last week, the public interest law firm Institute for Justice reported that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett in Baltimore struck down as unconstitutional a Maryland law that held back competition in the funeral services industry.
Judge Bennett described the ban as “the most blatantly anti-competitive state funeral regulation in the nation.”
The Maryland Public Policy Institute has been a sharp critic of this law. In February 2006, Maryland Public Policy Institute senior fellow Thomas A. Firey co-authored an op-ed with Kenyon College professor and funeral services market expert David Harrington in the Baltimore Sun entitled, “Funeral services industry making a killing in Annapolis” describing the inflated costs that Marylanders pay to bury a loved one. The authors calculated that Maryland’s citizens pay about $784 more per death on funeral expenses than citizens of other states without such anti-competition laws.
Professor Harrington’s research was cited repeatedly by Judge Bennett in his ruling.
Today Firey said of the Judge Bennett’s ruling: “This is a great little victory for consumers in a state where the legislature has a long and extreme history of siding with politically powerful businesses against consumers.”
Christopher B. Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, said, “We are proud to have played a part in exposing this abuse in the funeral industry, and we congratulate the Institute for Justice on its success. Maryland citizens deserve better and we will continue to identify and fight regulations that hurt competition and consumers.”
The Maryland Public Policy Institute is a 501 (c)(3) nonpartisan public policy research and education organization that focuses on Maryland public policy.
