N.Y. Public Health Law § 3450: Suspension and revocation of licenses

§ 3450. Suspension and revocation of licenses. 1. The commissioner may

revoke or suspend any license of a funeral director, undertaker or

embalmer and, if such licensee shall be the owner of, or a member of a

partnership owning, a funeral firm or the licensed and registered

manager of a funeral firm owned by a corporation, any certificate of

registration of such firm, or may reprimand or otherwise discipline such

licensee or funeral firm in accordance with the provisions of this

article upon proof that such licensee or, in the case of such

corporation, that the corporation or one or more of its officers or

directors or one or more of its stockholders or other persons, firms or

corporations having a ten per centum or greater proprietary, beneficial,

equitable or credit interest therein:

(a) has violated any of the provisions of this article, the sanitary

code, the rules and regulations of the commissioner or of any statute,

code, rule or regulation relating to the practice of funeral directing,

embalming, or vital statistics;

(b) has been convicted of a crime;

(c) has practiced fraud, deceit or misrepresentation in securing or

procuring a license or admission to practice funeral directing,

undertaking, or embalming;

(d) is incompetent to engage in the business or practice of funeral

directing, undertaking, or embalming except that this provision shall

not apply to an officer, director or stockholder of, or other person

interested in, a corporation owning a funeral firm unless he shall be

the licensed and registered manager thereof;

(e) has practiced fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in his business

or practice or in the business of such funeral firm;

(f) has committed acts of misconduct in the conduct of the business or

practice of funeral directing, undertaking, or embalming or in the

business of such funeral firm;

(g) is an habitual drunkard;

(h) is addicted to the use of morphine, opium, cocaine or other drugs

having a similar effect;

(i) has practiced or conducted the business of such funeral firm

without biennial registration of his license or of such firm;

(j) has employed, hired, procured or induced or otherwise aided or

abetted any person not licensed or registered to practice or hold

himself out as licensed, practicing, or entitled to practice as an

undertaker, or embalmer, or funeral director;

(k) has wrongfully transferred or surrendered possession, either

temporarily or permanently, of his license or certificate of

registration thereof or of the certificate of registration of such

funeral firm to any other person, partnership or corporation;

(l) has paid, given, has caused to be paid or given or offered to pay

or to give to any person a commission or other valuable consideration

for the solicitation or procurement, either directly or indirectly, of

funeral patronage, or has accepted any consideration (including without

limitation a commission, rebate, or discount or direct or indirect price

reduction on merchandise from the current value thereof) from any

financial institution or trust company, or agent thereof, with whom the

funeral director deposits funds paid for funeral services in advance of

need pursuant to subdivision one of section four hundred fifty-three of

the general business law except that the funeral director may accept,

from the financial institution, trust company or agent thereof, up to

twenty-five hundredths of one percent of the fee authorized under

paragraph (b) of subdivision three of section four hundred fifty-three

of the general business law for administrative services provided by the

funeral director, or has accepted any consideration (including without

limitation a commission or gift) from any insurer or agent thereof, to

sell, offer or promote the sale of any policy of insurance payable,

expressly or as marketed, at the death of the insured for funeral or

burial expenses;

(m) has been guilty of fraudulent, misleading or deceptive

advertising;

(n) has practiced funeral directing, undertaking or embalming, or has

conducted business as a funeral firm, under a false name;

(o) has impersonated another licensee or another funeral firm of a

like or different name; or

(p) has failed to comply with requirements set forth in section four

hundred fifty-three of the general business law, relating to moneys paid

in connection with agreements for funeral merchandise in advance of need

to be kept on deposit pending use or repayment except, that revocation

and suspension shall apply only in the case where a funeral director or

funeral firm has committed repeated violations of these provisions or

has committed a violation of the provisions of section four hundred

fifty-three of the general business law relating to failure to deposit

or hold moneys on deposit; failure to return such moneys and interest

thereon upon demand or upon the termination, cessation of operation or

discontinuance of any funeral firm, or a successor in interest; or

failure to comply with the requirements of paragraph (b) of subdivision

five of section four hundred fifty-three of the general business law

regarding compliance by transferors who receive such moneys.

2. The commissioner shall also have power, and after due notice and an

opportunity to be heard, to revoke or suspend the endorsement of a

funeral director, undertaker or embalmer license issued to any person

pursuant to the provisions of this article or any previous law upon

evidence that the duly constituted authorities of any state or political

subdivision of the United States have lawfully revoked or suspended the

funeral director, undertaker or embalmer license issued to such person

by such state or political subdivision.

3. The action of the commissioner in revoking or suspending such

license or certificate of registration of such funeral firm shall be

reviewable by the supreme court of the state of New York pursuant to the

provisions of article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

4. (a) A person convicted of a felony shall forfeit his license to

practice as a funeral director, undertaker, or embalmer, and upon

presentation to the department of a certified copy of a court record

showing that he has been convicted of a felony, that fact shall be noted

on the record of license, and the license shall be revoked, and the

registration shall be cancelled.

(b) If such conviction be subsequently reversed on appeal and the

accused acquitted or discharged, his license shall become again

operative from the date of such acquittal or discharge.

(c) The conviction of a felony aforementioned shall include the

conviction of a felony by any court in this state or by any court of the

United States or by any court of any other state of the United States;

provided, however, that if a crime of which the licensee is convicted by

any court of the United States or by any court of any other state is a

felony in the jurisdiction in which the conviction is had but is not a

felony in the state of New York, then the conviction shall not be deemed

a conviction of a felony for the purposes of this article. In the event

that a crime of which the licensee is convicted by any court of the

United States or by any court of any other state is not a felony in the

jurisdiction in which the conviction is had but is a felony in the state

of New York, then the conviction shall be deemed a conviction of a

felony for the purposes of this article.