(1) Upon complaint or upon its own motion, the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board may investigate a complaint made by any person or by the board. If the board finds any of the causes described in this section in regard to any person, licensee or applicant or the holder of a certificate of authority, the board may impose a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation, suspend or revoke a license to practice or to operate under this chapter or refuse to grant or renew a license. The causes are as follows:

Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 692.180

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Board: means the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board. See Oregon Statutes 692.010
  • Cemetery: means any one, or a combination of more than one, of the following, in a place used, or intended to be used, and dedicated, for cemetery purposes:

    (a) A burial park, for earth interments;

    (b) A mausoleum, for crypt interments;

    (c) A columbarium, for permanent interments of cremated or reduced remains;

    (d) A scattering garden or other designated area above or below ground where a person may pay to establish a memorial of cremated or reduced remains; or

    (e) A cenotaph, the primary purpose of which is to provide an area where a person may pay to establish a memorial to honor a person whose remains may be interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered. See Oregon Statutes 692.010

  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Final disposition: means the burial, interment, cremation, dissolution, reduction or other disposition of human remains authorized by the board by rule. See Oregon Statutes 692.010
  • Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
  • Rental cover: means a partial enclosure that appears similar to a casket that is utilized for viewing purposes and surrounds the burial, cremation or alternative container. See Oregon Statutes 692.010

(a) Misrepresentation in the conduct of business or in obtaining a license.

(b) Fraudulent or dishonest conduct, when the conduct bears a demonstrable relationship to funeral service practice, embalming practice or the operation of cemeteries, crematoriums or other facilities for final disposition of human remains.

(c) Except as provided in this paragraph, solicitation of human remains by the licensee or any agent, assistant or employee of the licensee, either before or after death. This paragraph does not apply to:

(A) Activities permissible under ORS § 97.923 to 97.949; or

(B) The sale, in accordance with provisions of the Insurance Code, of prearranged funeral or cemetery merchandise or services, or any combination thereof, to be funded by the contemporaneous or subsequent assignment of a life insurance policy or an annuity contract.

(d) Offensive treatment of dead human bodies or evidence that a body in the person’s custody has been disposed of in violation of ORS Chapter 432 or rules adopted pursuant thereto.

(e) Aiding or abetting a person who is not a licensee or a trainee in any act involving the disposition of dead human bodies before the bodies undergo final disposition or before the bodies are transported out of the State of Oregon.

(f) Sale or reuse of any casket or body container that has been previously utilized for the placement of a deceased human body. This does not include use of a rental cover as defined in ORS § 692.010.

(g) Violation of any of the provisions of this chapter or any rules adopted under this chapter.

(h) Violation of any provision of ORS § 97.929 or 97.937 or regulations adopted by the Federal Trade Commission regulating funeral industry practices.

(i) Conviction of a crime, when the crime bears a demonstrable relationship to funeral service practice, embalming practice, death care consultant practice or the operation of cemeteries, crematoriums or other facilities for final disposition of human remains. A certified copy of the conviction is conclusive evidence of the conviction.

(j) Violation of ORS Chapter 97 as it relates to disposition of human bodies and to cemeteries.

(k) Refusing to surrender promptly the custody of a dead human body, upon the express order of the person lawfully entitled to the custody of the body.

(L) Acting as the legal representative of any deceased person for whom the licensee has rendered services governed by this chapter. This subsection does not prohibit a licensee from acting as the legal representative of a deceased relative or a deceased licensee if the deceased licensee was a partner, employee or employer in the licensee’s practice.

(m) Failure to pay any civil penalty imposed by the board within 10 days after the order is entered or, if appealed, within 10 days after the order is sustained on appeal.

(n) Impairment as defined in ORS § 676.303.

(2) All amounts recovered under this section shall be deposited in the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board Account established under ORS § 692.375.

(3) Civil penalties under this section shall be imposed as provided in ORS § 183.745.

(4) Upon receipt of a complaint, the board shall conduct an investigation as described under ORS § 676.165.

(5) Information that the board obtains as part of an investigation into licensee or applicant conduct or as part of a contested case proceeding, consent order or stipulated agreement involving licensee or applicant conduct is confidential as provided under ORS § 676.175. [Amended by 1971 c.115 § 12; 1983 c.810 § 16; 1985 c.207 § 12; 1987 c.252 § 8; 1987 c.813 § 10; 1991 c.734 § 82; 1995 c.326 § 1; 1995 c.696 § 45; 1997 c.791 § 53; 1999 c.59 § 207; 2001 c.796 § 21; 2009 c.709 § 13; 2009 c.756 § 84; 2015 c.367 § 16]

 

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