Florida federal court orders fine for ‘deceptive’ funeral marketing

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida federal courtroom slapped a $275,000 penalty on two firms and an government as a part of a settlement after they have been accused of participating in “misleading” advertising and marketing for funeral items and providers.

In line with a U.S. Division of Justice information launch, the U.S. District Courtroom for the Southern District of Florida entered an order requiring Legacy Cremation Providers, LLC, Funeral & Cremation Group of North America, LLC and Anthony Joseph Damiano to pay the civil penalty, plus ordered them to “adjust to the FTC Act and the FTC’s Commerce Regulation Rule Regarding Funeral Business Apply.”

The funeral regulation particularly “prohibits offering shoppers with inaccurate worth data and requires sure disclosures to shoppers concerning pricing for funeral-related items,” officers mentioned.

In line with the DOJ, the order got here in response to a federal grievance filed in Fort Lauderdale towards the businesses, which served as brokers between shoppers and third-party funeral service suppliers.

The businesses “misled shoppers in regards to the areas the place funeral providers will probably be offered, in addition to the last word prices of such providers,” the information launch states, and “when shoppers objected to those pricing practices, (the businesses) refused to supply shoppers with the stays of their family members till they paid.”

Underneath the settlement, the businesses and Damiano agreed to stop such practices, officers mentioned.

“In addition they particularly agreed to obviously and conspicuously embrace on their web sites the precise bodily areas of the service suppliers and a hyperlink to their basic tariffs,” the information launch states. “Earlier than accepting cost from any client, (the) defendants agreed to supply an itemized, written assertion of all costs and the full value of providers.”

In line with the FTC grievance, Damiano, who used quite a lot of aliases, together with “AJ Damiano,” “AJ Types” and “AJ Mahoney,” operated each firms named within the litigation.