Batesville Casket Co: defendant in suit claiming conspiracy on caskets

A consumer advocacy group has filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against two Greater Cincinnati funeral-services companies and two other companies, claiming the companies conspired to keep less-expensive vendors from selling caskets.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by the Funeral Consumers Alliance, claims the funeral home companies are openly avoiding rules set more than 20 years ago by the Federal Trade Commission.

Cincinnati-based Alderwoods Group Inc. and Hillenbrand Industries Inc. of Batesville, parent of Batesville Casket Co., are defendants in the suit, along with Service Corp. International of Houston and Stewart Enterprises Inc. of Jefferson, La.