HALTED, FOR REAL: AKRON JUDGE FREEZES SELECTED'S MERGER VOTE AND ORDERS 30 DAYS OF DISCLOSURE FIRST

The vote that was supposed to close Thursday is frozen by court order, and a judge is keeping it that way.

Judge Christine Croce of the Summit County Court of Common Pleas in Akron, Ohio signed a Temporary Restraining Order on Oct. 6, one day after the 17 member firms filed their verified complaint. The case, Billow Co., et al. v. Selected Independent Funeral Homes, No. CV 2026-10-4317, is brought by members suing the association they belong to, represented by the Canton, Ohio firm Brennan, Manna & Diamond. Obitley obtained the three-page order from opposition leader Nathanael Billow, whose firm is the lead plaintiff, and reviewed the full 52-page complaint on the court's public docket.

The order restrains Selected, "together with its officers, directors, agents, employees, and all persons in active concert or participation with it," from "closing, tabulating, certifying, or acting upon the membership vote" on the proposed transfer of substantially all of Selected's assets to the National Funeral Directors Association and the association's dissolution. That includes the ballot scheduled to close on Oct. 8. Ballots already cast are frozen; none may be counted.

WHAT THE ORDER ACTUALLY SAYS

The court found the plaintiffs have "a substantial likelihood of success" on their claim that under the D.C. Nonprofit Corporation Act, members are entitled to disclosures required by D.C. Code sections 29-410.02(d), 29-412.02(d), and 29-405.05(c) before any vote on the NFDA transaction, and that "any vote conducted without those disclosures is not a valid corporate action."

On harm, the order is blunt: "the loss of an informed vote cannot be remedied after the fact."

On Selected's side of the ledger, the court found the order costs the association nothing. The LOI is non-binding and runs until Jan. 11, 2027, and no definitive asset transfer agreement has been signed. The court waived the usual bond requirement, finding "a temporary delay of a non-binding, terminable vote exposes Selected to no monetary loss."

That Jan. 11, 2027 date matters beyond this case. Obitley's Sept. 26 full read of the letter of intent calculated the 180-day exclusivity window at roughly Jan. 11, 2027. The court's order now states the same date independently, in a signed judicial document.

The order sets one date certain: a preliminary injunction hearing on Oct. 23 at 9:00 a.m. before Magistrate Kandi O'Connor.

TWO EMAILS, ONE VOTE, AND A MISSED PLAINTIFF

Selected told its members first. Around 5 p.m. on Oct. 6, the association emailed the membership that a TRO had been granted, that the vote "will not close on October 8, 2026, and will remain open," and that there will be "no tabulating or acting upon the votes cast to date." Selected's email explained, accurately, that the order was granted ex parte, meaning without Selected present, and that an ex parte TRO is temporary relief pending a fuller hearing.

Selected's email also listed the plaintiffs. Sixteen of them.

The complaint counts 17. Selected's list omitted St. Pierre Family Funeral & Cremation Services of Indianapolis, past president Paul St. Pierre's firm, and placed another plaintiff, Carlisle & Son Funeral Chapel, in Columbus, Ohio when its address is Mooresville, Indiana. "St. Pierre had a good laugh about it but was also a little irked that he wasn't on Selected's list," Billow wrote to Obitley. The clerk's own online party index repeats the same 16-name list with the same omission. Obitley verified the 17-name caption against the complaint itself, obtained from the Summit County docket.

Hours later, the plaintiffs answered with their own member-wide email, a fact sheet Billow forwarded to Obitley on Wednesday morning. In it, the 17 firms frame the suit as narrow: pause the vote, nullify it, require the disclosures, give members 30 days with the material, then vote. "We do not wish to interfere with the management of Selected and we do not question the authority of the board and officers," the fact sheet reads. The court file backs up the timing complaint. Selected's own response letter, filed as an exhibit, acknowledges a Sept. 15 demand letter and a Sept. 22 follow-up; the response is dated Sept. 29, signed by outside counsel Kevin Serafino of Tenenbaum Law Group, five days after voting opened on Sept. 24.

WHY AKRON

The fact sheet also answers the geography question: why an Ohio courtroom for a Washington, D.C. association merging with an Illinois one. Ohio's long-arm statute reaches associations that do significant business in the state, the plaintiffs write, and Selected has more than a dozen Ohio member firms, has hosted more meetings in Akron over the past decade than in any other city, and counts two recent officers, including immediate past chair Christopher Waite, as Ohio residents in its corporate filings.

WHAT HAPPENS OCT. 23

Selected gets its day in court, as its email promised. Two paths could end this before the hearing: the board produces everything the D.C. statute requires and agrees to a fresh timeline, or the two sides settle on disclosure terms. If neither happens, Magistrate O'Connor hears the preliminary injunction request with the TRO's own 14-day lifespan as the backdrop.

The board's calendar problem is arithmetic. A vote that cannot close, plus disclosures that must precede any new vote, plus 30 days of member review, pushes any legitimate ballot into November at the earliest. The merger's own paperwork set Dec. 31 as the targeted close.

Billow's closing note to Obitley read: "Our plaintiffs want to avoid unnecessary conflict and want to avoid an extended court battle. We simply want the board to disclose all relevant information and extend members time so that we can cast informed ballots on what is the most important vote in the history of Selected."

*Sources: Temporary Restraining Order and Verified Complaint, Case No. CV 2026-10-4317, Summit County Court of Common Pleas (obtained by Obitley from the court's public docket, on file); Selected Independent Funeral Homes member email, Oct. 6, 2026; plaintiffs' member fact sheet and Billow correspondence to Obitley, Oct. 7, 2026; On Deathcare, Oct. 6, 2026; Obitley prior reporting, Sept. 22 and Sept. 26, 2026.*