In Colorado, the Catholic Church is providing a place to inter cremated remains for those who can’t afford a niche or burial. A Louisiana court castigates a coroner for “reckless and outrageous misconduct.” And a private equity firm in Great Britain is seeking to purchase one of the country’s largest funeral providers. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

New Orleans, LA, Coroner Loses Appeal in Misconduct Case
By David Hammer (WWL)
A Louisiana appeals court has strongly rebuked New Orleans, LA, Coroner Dwight McKenna, using his own words against him to uphold a lower court’s ruling from March that his office engaged in “reckless and outrageous misconduct.” Not only did the appellate judges agree that McKenna’s office was liable for cremating a man’s remains without notifying his family, but they also awarded the family five times more money for their pain and suffering. Read more here.

For Families Keeping Ashes at Home, the Church Offers a Place of Peace
By Deacon Mark Nestorick (Denver Catholic)
For more than three years, she kept a small wooden urn on the corner of her bedroom dresser. Inside were the cremated remains of her son. She loved her son deeply, but she also carried a quiet guilt. She didn’t know what to do with his remains. The idea of scattering them felt wrong. A private burial seemed financially out of reach. So, the urn stayed on the dresser–waiting. When I told her about the Crypt of All Souls, a ministry of Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado that receives cremated remains for interment at no cost, Maria broke down in tears. Read more here.

Family Forced to Move Brother's Body Eight Years after Burial in Macon, GA, Cemetery Mix-Up
By Hunter King (WMAZ)
Eight years after burying her brother at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Macon, GA, Sarah Threatt received a phone call she never expected. The cemetery needed to move Leroy Thomas Jr.'s body. Another family owned the plot, managers said, and they needed it back for a recent death. Read more here.

Private Equity Firm to Bid for Funeral Provider Pure Cremation in Great Britain
By Mark Kleinman (Sky News)
A private equity firm is plotting a takeover of one of Britain's biggest funeral providers in a deal which could value it at more than 500 million pounds. Sky News has learned that Cinven, a former owner of the fashion brand Kurt Geiger, is among the private equity firms expected to table bids this week for Pure Cremation. Read more here.

Mortuary Operators Warned: Regularize Operations or Risk Immediate Shutdown
By Jemima Okang Addae (Graphic Online)
The Mortuaries and Funeral Facilities Agency in Ghana has directed all unlicensed mortuaries and funeral homes, both public and private, to regularize their operations within one week or face closure. Read more here.

Huge Change to Burials for Millions of Australians
By Paul Shapiro (Daily Mail)
Animal lovers in the Australian state of Victoria will soon be able to be buried with their pets after a landmark reform passed through Parliament. The reform, which will soon become law, allows pets to be buried in family plots for the first time. Victoria is the second state, after New South Wales, to recognize the right for people and their animals to share an eternal resting place. Read more here.

Scottish Funeral Firm Delivered Wrong Body to Cremation as Undertakers Probed over Embarrassing Blunders
By Stuart MacDonald (The Scottish Sun)
Funeral firms in Scotland have been investigated over a series of blunders including the wrong body being delivered to a cremation. A coffin was also buried in the wrong plot while another was so heavy it could not be lowered into a grave. Read more here.

New Jersey now stands in between the legalization of natural organic reduction and the promulgation of the regulations that will govern the procedure.

NOR requires oversight by licensed funeral directors who will need to become certified as natural organic reduction operators and the treatment will be regulated as a mortuary process–not a form of final disposition–in registered mortuaries that become NOR facilities.

To aid funeral directors in discerning whether NOR is an avenue they would like to pursue, the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association is providing information regarding companies that currently provide the equipment needed for natural organic reduction, funeral homes that are offering NOR and the draft regulations the NJSFDA has prepared for consideration by the State Board of Mortuary Science of New Jersey. A copy of the law as signed is also provided.

So here is a short primer on the basics of New Jersey’s natural organic reduction law as its stands today, its timeline and some resources to help you as you consider entering this new market.

The Law

Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill legalizing natural organic reduction on September 11, 2025. It is important, however, to recognize that, even though the process has been legalized, the regulatory framework is just beginning to allow for NOR’s implementation. Written into the bill is a 10-month window before it becomes effective. During that time, the Mortuary Board will craft the regulations, a process which allows funeral directors to fully consider NOR’S potential benefits and drawbacks for their businesses.

There will also be regulatory changes required by the New Jersey Cemetery Board and the Department of Environmental Protection.

The final version of the bill can be found here. The NJSFDA’s suggested regulations for the process can be found here. NOTE: The Board may accept or reject any of the NJSFDA’s proposed regulatory recommendations.

The Process

Sometimes referred to as human composting, NOR is the process of controlled supervised decomposition of a human body resulting in the conversion of human remains into a soil-like product.

During the process, a licensed funeral director places the body in a special vessel with organic materials housed within a registered mortuary that causes microbial activity to quickly and efficiently break down the body into a nutrient-rich soil product. The process usually takes eight to 12 weeks.

Funeral directors should be aware that NOR is not considered final disposition in the New Jersey law. Instead, it is a body treatment and process that needs the oversight of qualified funeral directors and will ultimately require decisions for the disposal of the product.

Who Is Offering NOR Already?

These are the four operating funeral homes in the Pacific Northwest:

Earth: Soil Transformation, Human Composting | Earth Funeral

Return Home: Green Funeral Home | Human Composting - Return Home

The Natural Funeral: TerraCare Partner Program - The Natural Funeral Colorado

Recompose: Recompose | Human Composting | Full-Service Funeral Home

Who Sells the Equipment?

There are currently two vendors, one in the United States and the other overseas that will sell funeral homes the equipment needed to begin offering natural organic reduction. Here are several options:

The Natural Funeral, a company that was present at the 2025 NJSFDA Funeral Convention and Expo, is offering prefab units for installation. The company’s website is: TerraCare Partner Program - The Natural Funeral Colorado

The German company Mein Erde through its website (simply click “translate”) are also selling prefab units in the U.S. The firm’s website is: Frequently asked questions about reburial | MY EARTH

Should I Invest in NOR?

This is strictly a business decision, but those who choose to enter the market should know that startup will require significant investment, from obtaining or retrofitting space to the purchase of the equipment. There will also be training costs.

Those who do invest, however, could see a strong upside as interest in these alternative forms of body preparation increase on the East Coast.

Immordino

Our sincerest condolences to Mercer County Funeral Directors Association member Frank M. Immordino on the death of his mother, Maria Immordino, who died on October 25, 2025.

Caposello

Our sincerest condolences to resident non-affiliated member Kellie A. Bender and Passaic County Funeral Directors Association member Jonathan R. Bender on the death of their father and father-in-law, John Caposello Sr., who died on August 14, 2025.

An effort to restore trust in a Colorado coroner’s office plagued by allegations that its former head had hidden decomposing bodies in his funeral home collapsed after outraged members of the community complained.

Dr. Greg Grahek, the interim coroner in Pueblo County, CO, made plans to host a Halloween “event” at the coroner’s headquarters, according to a CBS News Colorado article.

“Our intent was simply to provide a safe, family-friendly opportunity for children and families to enjoy the holiday together, as we had provided in the past,” the coroner’s office said in a Facebook post. The coroner’s office had hosted similar events in past years.

But the event was cancelled after some in the community said they thought it was a bad idea, given the accusations against the previous coroner, CBS News stated.

“We recognize and respect those concerns, and as such, we have decided to cancel the event,” the coroner’s office Facebook post stated. “We sincerely apologize for any discomfort or misunderstanding this may have caused,” the office said.

In August 2025, two dozen decomposing human remains were found hidden behind a door at a funeral home operated by Brian Cotter, who at the time was serving as the Pueblo County coroner. Some of the bodies had been there for more than a decade.

Cotter soon resigned and was replaced by Grahek. Although Cotter’s funeral home was ordered closed by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, he has not yet been charged with a crime.

Private Label, a casket distributor based in Indiana, has decided to wind down its operations by the end of 2025, citing “global economic volatility” and increasing tariffs on raw materials from overseas.

The company, part of the Buchanan Group, a firm that owns several funeral and burial-related businesses, said that it had explored several “strategic alternatives” but concluded that shuttering operations was the best path forward.

“This decision is designed to shield your business from future global shocks and secure your success for the long term,” the company said in a message to its customers.

Private Label had touted its ability to weather “the tariff rollercoaster” in an advertorial posted on The FORUM in August 2025.

“We started 2025 up another 29 percent until the big tariff shock hit us in May, then orders leveled off. Still, our clients have remained loyal, and we are adding significant new ones,” Private Label Manager Carlos Figueroa said at the time.

The newest tariffs, imposed by President Donald J. Trump since the beginning of his presidency in January 2025, have disrupted global markets and caused an increase in raw materials imported into the United States. Those increased costs have since begun to be passed on to consumers.

The company had prided itself on competitively priced caskets, but the volatility had made that goal increasingly difficult to meet.

“These conditions make it increasingly difficult to guarantee affordable, stable pricing and dependable supply,” the Private Label message stated.

Several casket companies, also citing increasing tariffs, have announced price increases recently, leading funeral directors to face an uneasy decision: eat the added costs or raise prices for consumers.

Private Label said it still has a large inventory and its customers “may wish to order a larger supply than you have in the past because we plan to keep prices low.”

The company also said it is looking to partner with a domestic manufacturer, even though it had been in competition with domestic businesses.

“More will be communicated as details are confirmed,” the company said.

A man working at a funeral home in Dallas, TX, was crushed to death when a burial vault fell on him.

According to KXAS and several other news sources, the man was pinned from the waist down by the vault while working at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas. Emergency workers frantically tried to free him, using an apparatus called the “jaws of life,” usually used to pry open vehicles to rescue people trapped in traffic accidents.

The man, who was not identified, was transported to a local hospital where he later died. Burial vaults, typically made of concrete, can weigh around 2,000 pounds. It is unclear how the vault fell on the man.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified and is expected to investigate the incident.

Restland, a 100-year-old business, operates one the largest funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories in the Southwest and Texas, according to the funeral home’s website.