The Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors will meet next month to discuss whether to continue with its sanctions against the Magetti Gavin Funeral Home.

The board fined the east Dayton funeral home located on Valley Street $11,500 at the end of last year for unprofessional conduct.

David S. Jablinski, the funeral home’s attorney, filed an appeal with the state earlier this month that stated the fine was excessive given the fact his clients had corrected their mistakes.

The fine was the result of two separate cases where the funeral home did not appropriately handle prepaid funeral arrangements, according to Vanessa Niekamp, state board director.

Niekamp sent a letter dated Sept. 26 to Hugh P. Gavin, funeral director, that said the board had reasonable evidence to propose the suspension or revocation of the licenses held by Gavin and the funeral home for a violation of state law for unprofessional conduct.

The letter also stated that the board was going to impose a previously stayed $1,500 fine from a February 2011 settlement agreement and an additional proposed forfeiture of $10,000 in a 2012 case where the funeral home failed to submit the payment for a client’s prepaid funeral arrangements with an insurance company or trust company within 30 days of receipt.

After a Nov. 27 state hearing on the proposal of suspension or revocation of the licenses, Attorney Marc Myers, hearing officer, found that the funeral home failed to properly deposit preneed funds and report all preneed contracts to the state board in the February 2011 settlement case. Myers recommended that the board suspend the licenses for six months, if Gavin did not pay $11,500 within the 30 days after the board issues sanctions against the funeral home.

The state board is expected to review the hearing officer’s report at its Feb. 12-13 meetings in Columbus.

Jablinski’s stated in his objection that, “this was a mistake on the part of the funeral home, which was remedied with no harm whatsoever to the customer. There was no malicious intent involved here or deception of any kind.”