The Commission also charged that the funeral home chain conditioned the provision of certain funeral goods and services upon the purchase of others. In fact, Chapel of the Chimes did not regularly sell the plots at prices higher than the discount price, and there was not a good faith intent to imminently increase the prices, the FTC alleged. The complaint and proposed consent decree were filed today by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The Commission vote to authorize the filing of the complaint and proposed settlement was 5-0. This consent decree is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the defendant of a law violation.
Consent decrees have the force of law when signed by the judge.