Selected Independent Funeral Homes has filed its first substantive defense in the lawsuit that froze its merger vote. On Oct. 20 the association asked the Summit County Court of Common Pleas to dismiss the case and deny the member firms' preliminary-injunction request, the order that would keep the freeze in place while the case proceeds. It separately asked the court to declare its temporary restraining order dissolved or expired.
Three days later, on Oct. 23, the parties argued the injunction motion before Magistrate Kandi O'Connor. As of Tuesday's live docket fetch, no post-hearing ruling or order has been docketed in Case No. CV-2026-10-4317, and the merger ballots remain un-tabulated.
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Obitley reported the opening earlier this month: 17 member firms sued Oct. 5 over the transfer of substantially all of Selected's assets to the National Funeral Directors Association and Selected's dissolution, and Judge Christine Croce signed a temporary restraining order the next day, ex parte, on one side's request without the other side present. The order barred Selected from "closing, tabulating, certifying, or acting upon the membership vote" until members received the disclosures required by D.C. Code §§ 29-410.02(d), 29-412.02(d), and 29-405.05(c) and at least thirty days to review them.
By the Numbers
Selected's motion
The Oct. 20 motion asks the court to "(1) dismiss the Verified Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; (2) deny Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction; and (3) confirm the dissolution or expiration of the Temporary Restraining Order."
The dismissal request invokes Civ.R. 12(B)(1), the Ohio civil rule allowing dismissal when a court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the authority to hear a case of this kind.
Selected has "380 voting members, each entitled to a single vote" as of Oct. 16, 2026, and calls the 17 plaintiffs "just 4.5%" of that membership and voting authority. The motion also represents, per plaintiffs' brief citing Motion at 12 n.11, that "a quorum of ballots was nonetheless received" while the TRO was in effect. The complaint puts that quorum at 127 firms and alleges that passage requires a simple majority.
The plaintiffs' answer
The plaintiffs countered Oct. 22 with one combined filing, "Plaintiffs' Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss and Reply in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction," docketed by plaintiffs' firm Brennan, Manna & Diamond. The opposition and the reply are one document; the day's two docket entries are the brief and the "Affidavit of Nathanael M. Billow."
The affidavit's second paragraph reads: "I am the Executive Vice President and a Funeral Director of The Billow Co., one of the Plaintiffs in this action and a member firm of Defendant Selected Independent Funeral Homes ('Selected') in good standing."
On the restraining order, the brief asks the court to "extend the TRO for good cause ... through the Court's ruling on the preliminary injunction." The order's 14-day term ran out on or about Oct. 20; the docket shows no extension entered.
The clerk's party table lists 16, omitting St. Pierre Family Funeral & Cremation Services, LLC; the complaint caption and Selected's motion both count 17.
The hearing, and the silence since
The Oct. 6 TRO announced the hearing: "A hearing on Plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction is set for October 23, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. before Magistrate Kandi O'Connor." Both firms signed an Oct. 19 joint motion to present witness testimony remotely, and the hearing went forward on that date.
A live fetch Tuesday shows the docket's most recent entry is still the plaintiffs' Oct. 22 brief and affidavit. No ruling, order, judgment, or continuance is dated Oct. 23 through Oct. 27.
The TRO lapsed by its terms, the injunction motion is pending and unresolved, and the docket shows neither a dissolution order nor any action on the ballots.
Two clocks
The standoff runs on separate calendars. NFDA's "Better Together" FAQ, fetched live Tuesday, says "Definitive agreements are targeted for completion by late October, 2026, pending the required Board and member approvals" and that the two associations "would become one under the NFDA unified organization by December 31, 2026." That closing date is the FAQ's alone; no court filing mentions it. The filings instead give the letter of intent a term to Jan. 11, 2027.
What to watch now: a ruling on the injunction, a ruling on the Civ.R. 12(B)(1) motion, any TRO status order, and any docket action on the ballots themselves.
Late October ends Saturday. The docket's last word remains a brief and an affidavit filed Oct. 22.
What This Means for You
*Sources: Summit County Clerk of Courts docket, Billow Co. v. Selected Independent Funeral Homes, Case No. CV-2026-10-4317 (fetched Oct. 27, 2026); Verified Complaint (filed Oct. 5, 2026); Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Verified Complaint and Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (filed Oct. 20, 2026); Plaintiffs' Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss and Reply in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (filed Oct. 22, 2026); Affidavit of Nathanael M. Billow (filed Oct. 22, 2026); Joint Motion to Present Witnesses Remotely (filed Oct. 19, 2026); Temporary Restraining Order (entered Oct. 6, 2026); NFDA "Better Together" FAQ, nfda.org (fetched Oct. 27, 2026).*
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