Louisiana
Funeral homes, coroner’s offices at odds over cremation fees
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – It’s not clear when coroners in Louisiana began charging grieving families a fee for the permit needed to cremate their loved ones, but a new legal opinion clearly spells out that there is nothing in state law to support that practice.
The consequence is that dying in Louisiana may be more expensive for your family, depending on which coroner has your body.
That’s because some coroners across the state are now abandoning the fee, which has padded their budgets for years and made dying in Louisiana more costly for families. Other coroners will continue charging families for cremation permits.
The I-Team dug into the fight that this legal opinion has sparked between funeral homes and coroner’s offices across the state.
Mike Clark is the funeral director at Church Funeral Services. He calls the legal opinion from Attorney General Jeff Landry a victory because he believes the fees should have never been charged in the first place, based on Louisiana law.
“The statute and the law is very clear that coroner’s offices are budgeted by the taxpayer dollars and they have a budget and they’re not to charge for the cremation letters or some other items that they’re charging for,” said Clark.
That fee typically ranges anywhere from $50 to $125. Funeral homes with absorb the fee or pass that cost on to you in order to get a permit to take care of a loved one. Clark says the fees should not be collected and believes the coroner’s offices that do are essentially breaking the law.
“I don’t see how they can continue when the law is very plain,” said Clark.
Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich is the Jefferson Parish coroner and also serves as the president of the Louisiana Coroner’s Association. Since the Attorney General came out earlier this month his office, like many across the state, has stopped collecting those fees for now. He takes offense to the suggestion that coroners are breaking the law. Instead, he says most coroners who have ben charging the fees are simply following long-standing guidelines that have been in place for years.
“On behalf of every coroner I take that very personally because nobody is out there intentionally breaking the law, they’ve just kind of done it the way it’s always been done,” said Dr. Cvitanovich.WAFB’s Scottie Hunter if he was blindsided by the opinion.
“I would say so because I would guess that billing a fee for cremation permits is something that predates every coroner in the state I’ll bet because it’s been going on for multiple decades,” said Dr. Cvitanovich.
There is now a question over what happens next and what happens to all the fees that have already been collected over the years. Clark says his funeral home sees roughly $20,000 in fees for cremations every year from just one coroner’s office. He believes those families that have faces fees over the years should be reimbursed but he admits getting that money into the right hands and tracking down who is even owed a possible refund will be a tall order.
“Certainly it’s going to be difficult because you think about that we’ve serviced a family maybe 10 years ago and the individual that took care of those arrangements that were the legal next of kin has now passed away. It may be difficult to try to find out who their heirs are or if there’s an estate,” said Clark.
That is the one thing Dr. Dvitanovich agrees with. He too thinks it would be hard to issue any of those refunds but he says it’s way too early for refunds to even be on the table.
”As far as whether or not those fees need to be reimbursed, I think the first thing we need to do is find out if they are actually illegal,” said Dr. Cvitanovich.
For now, there’s a push to get clarification on the Attorney General’s opinion. Dr. Cvitanovich says while that process plays out, he would also like to see lawmakers take up the issue and actually make the law more clear.
“It was never really a significant issue but it is now and so I would hope that the legislature addresses it,” said Dr. Cvitanovich.
Right now, only two coroner’s offices are continuing to charge those fees, Orleans and St. Tammany.
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Daniel Cormier will be part of another Hall of Fame.
A Lafayette, Louisiana native, Cormier this weekend will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. He is also already a member of the UFC Hall of Fame, National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame and Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Cormier made his mark early in the Louisiana sports world, even before getting to Oklahoma State. He was a three-time state champion for Northside High School, then went to Colby Community College, where he won a pair of NJCAA titles and was 61-0.
Once at OSU, Cormier immediately cracked the starting lineup at 184 pounds in 2000 and 2001. He was 52-10 as a Cowboy, qualifying for the NCAA Wrestling Championships both seasons. Cormier was an NCAA runner-up in 2001, losing to Cael Sanderson in the finals. He also lost to Sanderson twice in the Big 12 finals. Of Cormier’s 10 collegiate losses, six were to Sanderson.
Cormier achieved most of his success after leaving Stillwater, first on the international wrestling circuit. He qualified for the Olympics as a member of Team USA in 2004 and 2008, placing fourth at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Cormier didn’t get to compete in 2008 after having to drop out of the tournament because of illness. He also earned a bronze medal at 96 kilograms at the World Championships in 2007.
Cormier started his mixed martial arts career in 2009 with Strikeforce, becoming the King of the Cage heavyweight champion and winning the 2012 Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. He then joined the UFC and became the second fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two weight divisions at the same time as the champion at light heavyweight and heavyweight. He was the first to have title defenses in two divisions. Cormier was 22-3 in his MMA career.
The 2024 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class features eight other inductees, including former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A new study revealed that Louisiana is among the least expensive states to give birth in.
Birth Injury Lawyers Group, personal injury attorneys, looked at data from the Health Care Cost Insitute to see the average cost of different delivery types and to find the average overall delivery cost, according to a news release.
“Whilst bringing a new life into the world is exciting for parents, it is also a shame that, for many, birth also brings a huge economic burden,” said Bob Goldwater from Birth Injury Lawyers Group.
Louisiana was named the sixth least expensive state to give birth in. According to the study, the average cost of delivery in the state is $9,883.
Mississippi was named the least expensive state to give birth in with an average cost of delivery of $7,639, while California was the most expensive state to give birth in with an average cost of $19,230, according to the study.
Check out the top 10 least expensive states to give birth in, according to the study:
- Mississippi
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Kentucky
- Iowa
- Texas
- Arizona
Latest News
GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) — A 17-year-old Louisiana man drowned in Galveston on Friday, according to Galveston Island Beach Patrol.
Authorities said at 2:53 p.m., beach patrol was called to the scene regarding a swimmer in distress on the west side of Tower 25.
When the Galveston Island Beach Patrol supervisor arrived, guards signaled for a missing swimmer.
SEE ALSO: Houston teen drowns in Galveston, second fatality this weekend amid red flag warning
Additional agencies were called to assist, and a jet ski was launched to search with multiple guards.
At 3:38 p.m., the beach patrol pulled the 17-year-old from the water.
Galveston police and fire departments conducted CPR on the teenager, and he was taken by Galveston EMS to UTMB, where he was pronounced dead.
The teenager’s identity has not been released by authorities.
The beach patrol confirmed with Eyewitness News that the teenager’s death marked the fifth drowning on Galveston Island this year. Lt. Austin Kirwin said on average, there are about seven to eight drownings a season.
SEE ALSO: 1 dead, dozens rescued on Galveston beaches amid dangerous currents, officials say
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