The decision of the Arkansas State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors to revoke the license of a Blytheville funeral home and its owner's license as a funeral director has been affirmed by a circuit judge.
Effie Collins, funeral director and owner and operator of Collins Chapel Mortuary, appealed the June 2009 decision of the state board to revoke Collins' license. The latest order, signed March 25 by Circuit Judge Randy Philhours, states that in a review of the decision, the records of the state board and briefs submitted by both parties were considered.
The order upheld the state board's assertions that Collins acted as a funeral director and "held herself out as a funeral director while her license was suspended," and that several of her actions with regard to one man's services "constituted misrepresentation or fraud" and that the petitioner (Collins) "failed to provide a required price list and a statement of services of goods selected prior to the funeral as required by state and federal law."
Philhours stated that the court found there was "substantial evidence of record to support the board's findings and its conclusions of law." The court also found that the board's decision "was not arbitrary, capricious, characterized by an abuse of discretion or contrary to law."
The order also stated that Collins will be required to reimburse the State Board for its costs of preparing the administrative record for the hearing, in the amount of $383.
Collins was represented in the case by Hot Springs attorney Q. Byrum Hurst.
In February, Collins pleaded no contest to a city charge of operating a funeral home without a license in Blytheville District Court. She was charged with the offense more than a year before after her funeral director's license had been revoked by the state board.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Curt Huckaby of Jonesboro said at the time that in the plea agreement, Collins agreed to pay $140 in court costs. Collins also agreed that she would not engage in the operation of a funeral home or act as a funeral director for a period of one year unless she first regained her license from the state board.
She was represented in the District Court case by attorney Larry Steele of Walnut Ridge.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.com