Tennessee Caskets
Craigmiles v. Giles
IJ Breaks Up Tennessee Casket Cartel; Scores First Federal Appellate Victory for Economic Liberty Since New Deal
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Reverend Nathaniel Craigmiles has been successful in his challenge to Tennessee's anti-competitive laws requiring a funeral director's license to sell caskets.
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In December 2002, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the government cannot restrict individuals’ right to earn an honest living by imposing protectionist regulations. The decision upheld a lower court finding that Tennessee’s government-imposed casket monopoly unconstitutionally violated the right of independent casket retailers to earn an honest living free from excessive government regulation. The ruling is the first federal appeals court victory for economic liberty since it was gutted during the New Deal.
Even though casket retailers don’t perform funerals and don’t handle dead bodies, the State of Tennessee had required anyone selling caskets in the state to secure a government-issued funeral director’s license, which required years of training at a cost of thousands of dollars and required individuals seeking the license to embalm 25 dead bodies. The unlicensed sale of caskets was a crime in Tennessee and is still outlawed in nearly a dozen other states. IJ’s clients, the Rev. Nathaniel Craigmiles and Tommy Wilson of Craigmiles Wilson Casket Supply in Chattanooga, and Angela Brent and Jerry Harwood of The Casket Store in Knoxville, were threatened with fines and jail time for selling caskets without a funeral director’s license.
IJ’s federal appeals court victory was not appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.