NEW ORLEANS -- Witches Brew Tours LLC (WBT) filed a federal complaint on November 5 in the Eastern District of Louisiana against the New Orleans Archdiocesan Cemeteries d.b.a. New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries (NOCC) and Cemetery Tours NOLA LLC.
According to the complaint, Defendants are participants in the New Orleans cemetery tourism industry and have conspired to exclude all other competitors, including Witches Brew Tours, from providing tours in Nos. 1 and 2.
No. 1 is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and one of the 10 oldest in the nation still in operation and receives approximately 500,000 visitors in a year. Nos. 1 and 2 receive most of the cemetery tourism in New Orleans because of their long histories, proximity to the French Quarter, and the many famous people interred there. Witches Brew Tours alleges Defendants' conduct is anticompetitive and NOCC breached its obligations as a cemetery authority.
Witches Brew Tours seeks an order declaring that the defendant is in breach of its obligation to provide free and reasonable access to St. Louis Cemeteries Nos. 1 and 2; permanently enjoining defendants from taking retaliatory action; an order directing defendants to take affirmative steps necessary to remediate their past restraints to commerce and to once again allow the public free and reasonable access to the cemeteries owned by NOCC; cost of suit and attorney fees. Witches Brew Tours is represented by David W. Nance.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:21-cv-02051-BWA-MBN