“Litigation is the basic legal right which guarantees every corporation its decade in court.”?     –David Porter, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Retail Sales

            It is worthy of a soap opera, a primetime drama or a reality show. It could be a thesis for any law student.

            The consequences, unfortunately, are real; the expense is staggering and the lessons taught show us how funeral service has changed.

            Matthews Casket will receive 17 million dollars in a settlement from Batesville Casket for civil action against Batesville Casket Company, Harry Pontone and Scott Pontone. An additional settlement of 1.75 million dollars to pay the attorney fees of Harry and Scott Pontone will also be received.

            This four year litigation clogged the courts with complaints, motions and addendums from all involved. Judge Joy Flowers Conti stated in one of the later opinions “the court has seen a lengthy and contentious fact discovery period.”

            There are several of us who remember a different era of casket companies. The regional, family-owned supplier of caskets, dresses and suits and other sundry items. There was no problem in changing a casket interior.

            The independent local casket suppliers have not completely disappeared, but are much fewer in numbers. The cost of manufacturing, distribution and marketing forced them to sell to larger and larger companies until the largest manufacturers and suppliers have their stock traded on Wall Street.

            Harry Pontone started his career by working for his father, Thomas, who founded the South Brooklyn Casket Company in 1931. The oldest of eight children, Harry, along with his brothers, took the smaller sized company and expanded it through hard work and anticipation of what funeral homes were looking for in memorialization.

            The family business became Milso (referred by court records as “Old Milso”). In 2005, the York Group acquired Old Milso. Harry and Scott Pontone became York’s president and vice president, respectively, and were part of the York’s board of directors.

            In 2007, Harry felt inner company managerial interference and sued the York Group for “undermining his authority and encroaching on his responsibility as the president.” The case was settled. Harry resigned as York Group’s president, became York Group’s chairman of the board of directors and remained on the board of directors. Scott voluntarily resigned his positions from York Group and received a severance package.

            In 2008 Scott started selling insurance to funeral home owners. Several owners asked him for assistance in buying caskets and he told them he could not due to agreements signed with York.

            In July 2008, Scott sued York, Matthews and Milso stating that the non-competition and non-solicitation clauses in his agreement were not enforceable in New York. The district court denied his motion.  In January 2010, Scott incorporated Pontone Casket Company LLC in New York. Two employees of Matthews, Josephine Pesce (who was at one time executive assistant to Harry) and Joseph Redmond (who was at one time warehouse manager at Milso), left their positions to work for Batesville Casket Company. Scott claimed that he did not “solicit or induce” Pesce and Redmond to leave their positions with Matthews. Batesville claimed they had a “consulting agreement” with Pontone Casket Company and they were not “establishing an employment or agency relationship.” Scott was Pontone Casket Company LLC’s manager.

            In 2010, Matthews commenced legal action against Scott and Batesville Casket for violation of employment agreements. The next month Harry resigned his positions with York and Milso and was subsequently added to Matthews’s complaint in 2011. A series of counter claims were filed by Batesville and the Pontones in August 2012. Many of the claims were that the agreements the Pontones signed with Matthews were unreasonable and unnecessary to protect the interests of Matthews.

            Many claims and counterclaims were filed back and forth as to the impact Harry and Scott had on existing Matthews customers. Matthews saying they lost existing customers because of Harry and Scott being with Batesville. Batesville counterclaimed that Matthews did not lose business due to the Pontones and denied the Pontones were interfering with Matthews’s customers.

            (It is my attempt to report a summarized timetable of these claims between these parties. This timetable does not intentionally imply any opinion of the action of the parties and is an attempt to give a balanced reporting of some of the claims and counterclaims of all parties).

            There were many other claims and counterclaims filed by the various parties dealing with action of sales personnel, false advertising, misappropriation, defamation and other unfair competition claims. A full reporting of all of these would take volumes.

            On November 17, 2014, Matthews International Corporation announced the settlement of this case.

            The result of this long litigation is not just its settlement. It is the realization that in this evolving industry of rapidly expanding cremation and the taste for simpler services, that the financial stakes are much higher. The disturbing drop in casket sales, the competition from foreign casket manufacturers leaves less profitable items such as cremation products, printed products, websites and other technology products to be fought over by major corporations with hungry stockholders. Competition amongst death care providers has become more fierce and the major vendors are vehement to be the leader in these limited offerings.

            Two major manufacturers have had to live through the public relations nightmare of employees’ actions coming under scrutiny. A long time funeral supply family is forever fractured as Matthews has many of the Pontone family members employed there. The division of father and sons and grandchildren and cousins has to be painful.

            Thomas Pontone released a statement with the settlement announcement: “I am pleased the defendants have agreed to settle the case for a significant amount. On behalf of myself, Matthews and all of the Pontone family members engaged with Matthews, I would like to thank our customers for their continued loyalty and our longstanding employees for the contributions they make every day delivering outstanding service to our customers.”

            The future of funeral service is currently a painful one to watch. There are many new opportunities but many more funeral service institutions will crumble in the process.

  “Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.”     –Jean de la Bruyere