ONLY THREE LEFT: Oklahoma's funeral-director casket monopoly clears its first court test

Oklahoma County District Judge Don Andrews denied the state's motion to dismiss on Thursday, July 30, keeping alive a constitutional challenge to Oklahoma's funeral-director-only casket sales law. A motion to dismiss asks a court to end a case early, before evidence is gathered; denying one sends the dispute to a full hearing on the merits, where a judge weighs both sides' claims on a complete record: sworn court filings, documents exchanged between the parties and, if the case reaches trial, witness testimony. Oklahoma Voice reported the ruling; the Institute for Justice confirmed it July 31. Oklahoma is one of three states with such a ban, per IJ.

Candice Mentink and Todd Collard run Caskets of Honor from Calvin, in Hughes County, selling caskets wrapped in vinyl graphic designs like those on vehicle wraps: religious imagery, hunting and fishing themes, sports colors, family photographs, military commemorations.

In 2021 the couple displayed caskets at the Tulsa State Fair, where a Funeral Board investigator posed undercover as an interested customer, according to IJ's case page. The Board fined them $4,000, per the petition, and, per IJ, sought more than $8,000 before the couple settled for $4,700 in fines and costs. They now sell only to funeral homes. The Board also required a workshop sign stating they cannot sell directly to their fellow Oklahomans. Reorganized as a Texas company, the business ships to almost every state except Oklahoma, the couple said.

Their suit, filed February 4 with the Institute for Justice, targets the Funeral Services Licensing Act, which the lawsuit says "gives exclusive economic privileges to members of the funeral industry." The license path, per the suit: two years of mortuary science classes, a one-year apprenticeship, and two exams. The statute, 59 O.S. § 396.3(B), requires an accredited funeral service program and a 75 or higher on the national board exams. Sellers must also operate a licensed funeral establishment, which here would mean converting the workshop into a full-service funeral home, the suit says.

The 10th U.S. Circuit upheld the law under the U.S. Constitution in Powers v. Harris (2004), holding, as IJ frames it, that economic liberty may be restricted for funeral directors' private financial benefit. Four other federal courts struck similar laws, including the 5th Circuit in St. Joseph Abbey (2013) and the 6th Circuit in Craigmiles (2002). The new suit runs under the Oklahoma Constitution, citing article II, sections 2, 7 and 22, with a free-speech claim against the advertising ban.

The state, represented by the Attorney General's office, called the law consumer protection. Funeral establishments must stock at least five caskets, present bereaved buyers with options outside high-pressure sales, and provide a printed price list, the state argued. The law shields time-of-need purchases, the state said, and advertising illegal activity carries no speech protection.

The petition answers that the requirements "have no substantial relationship to public health, safety or welfare," and cites the Board's own consumer FAQ: "there is no direct relationship between the protective features of the casket and the preservation of the body." The suit adds that the state does not regulate caskets.

Lawmakers tried three times. H.B. 1074 (2023), S.B. 1602 (2024), and S.B. 559 (2025) would have opened casket sales beyond funeral directors. All three died; IJ reports the only opponents were the Oklahoma Funeral Board and the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association.

On July 30, Judge Andrews denied the motion to dismiss. "We now look forward to making the case that these restrictions are unconstitutional on the merits," IJ attorney Betsy Sanz said in a release. No hearing date has been reported in any public source.

Funeral Director Daily's Tom Anderson wrote Aug. 27 that he saw no public-health case for restricting "a commodity item, such as a casket" to licensees.

For funeral homes, the case tests licensing as a market barrier. If the act falls, outside sellers gain firmer footing; Caskets of Honor operates alongside online retailers like Walmart and Costco, per IJ.

For families, the fight is over price. The suit says Caskets of Honor "strives to keep its caskets affordable and avoid the substantial markups that funeral homes regularly place on caskets." An expert report by economist David Harrington, filed by IJ, puts the average Oklahoma funeral at $5,671, 18 percent above neighboring states, a figure not independently verified.

The Board's own FAQ already concedes caskets do not preserve bodies. With preservation off the table, the merits hearing turns on a narrower question: what exactly does a funeral director's license protect when the product is a vinyl-wrapped box?

*Sources: Institute for Justice press release (July 31, 2026) and petition (Feb. 4, 2026); Oklahoma Voice (July 30, 2026); Funeral Director Daily (Aug. 27, 2026); IJ case page; Oklahoma Funeral Services Licensing Act (2025 text).*