ST. BENEDICT, La., May 30 (UPI) -- A group of monks in Louisiana has challenged a decades-old regulation that bars them from selling handmade wooden coffins.
St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict is getting legal assistance from libertarian legal groups who need "sympathetic plaintiffs," The Washington Post reported. William H. Mellor, head of the Institute for Justice in Virginia, said that is one of the three ingredients for successful litigation along with "evil villains" and "outrageous facts."
"The number one thing you should do as a public interest litigator is to get monks as your clients in every single case," said Jeff Rowe, one of the attorneys representing St. Joseph.
The abbey won the first round last year when U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. ruled a regulation banning anyone except licensed funeral directors from selling funeral supplies has no economic justification except protecting the industry from competition. The Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors appealed, and arguments are to be heard in June.
St. Joseph turned to coffin making after Hurricane Katrina devastated pine timberlands the abbey had been using for income. The monks had made coffins for their brothers for many years.
