Hearing This Week On Injunction Against New Jersey Archdiocese Selling Headstone and Mausoleum Rights

Yesterday's Newark Star Ledger reports that a hearing is scheduled April 1 in a New Jersey Superior Court on an action by three cemetery monument companies against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark seeking to enjoin the Archdiocese from selling monuments and private mausoleums at Catholic cemeteries.  The complaint (full text) in Monument Builders of New Jersey, Inc. v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, (NJ Super Ct), filed last  year argues that the Archdiocese has engaged in unfair competition with private monument companies:

The sale of the monuments and the private mausoleums is in direct competition with Plaintiff entities and because of its tax-exempt status and the close contact with the family of the deceased before, at the time of, and after the burial give the Archdiocese preferred economic position and ease of access to prospective customers in promoting sales.

The complaint also alleges that the sale of monuments by the Archdiocese is ultra vires and against public policy.

The Archdiocese's answer (full text) filed Sept. 4, 2013, says that the Archdiocese is not selling monuments and mausoleums. Rather it is selling inscription rights to monuments and burial rights in mausoleums that the Archdiocese owns.  This arrangement makes it responsible for repairs when there is damage to headstones of mausoleums.  The Archdiocese admits that it is subject to New Jersey's 7% use tax on the monuments and mausoleums it purchases, even though apparently it has not yet paid the tax. (Deposition.)