Albert v. Allen

45 Misc. 2d 87, 255 N.Y.S.2d 981, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2385
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 7, 1965
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 45 Misc. 2d 87 (Albert v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Albert v. Allen, 45 Misc. 2d 87, 255 N.Y.S.2d 981, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2385 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

Louis G. Bruhn, J.

This is a proceeding in the nature of an article 78 OPLR in which the petitioners request the Court to hold a hearing to determine whether respondents have abused their discretion and have acted arbitrarily and capriciously in a manner violative of petitioners’ rights and thereafter to enter a final order setting aside and declaring a nullity-the failing results of the examinations given in April 1964 and directing respondents to change the examinations prepared for December 14,1964, making the same more appropriate to the practice of Chiropractic as the same is described in Article 132 of the Education Law

The respondents in turn move for an order pursuant to CPLR 7804 (subd. [f]), dismissing the petition herein on the ground that it is insufficient in law in that it does not state facts sufficient to entitle the petitioners to the relief demanded or to any other relief on the merits.

There is no doubt that in resolving a motion attacking the sufficiency of a pleading all of the allegations thereof and all inferences reasonably to be derived therefrom must be deemed to be true.

However, the caveat set forth in Matter of Hines v. State Bd. of Parole (293 N. Y. 254) is a qualification or limitation of such rule which carries equal fortitude. In that case, at page 258, the Court of Appeals stated: “ The allegations of fact are deemed to be true insofar as relevant or material upon any questions upon which a court may pass (Noyes v. Erie & Wyoming Farmers Co-Op. Corp., 281 N. Y. 187, 196; Nasaba Corp. v. Harfred Realty Corp., 287 N. Y. 290, 294; Zwirn r. Galento, 288 N. Y. 428, 430) but not conclusions of law.” (Italics supplied.)

[88]*88In opposition to the motion the petitioners cite the case of Foley v. D’Agostino (21A D 2d 60), which, incidentally, involved a motion pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd. [a], par. 7) and, curiously, at page 63, had this to say: “ But it is clear that, under the Civil Practice Law and Rules, the statements in pleadings are still required to be factual, that is, the essential tacts required to give ‘ notice ’ must be stated. (See Wachtel, New York Practice, p. 102.) Neverthless, a party may supplement or round out his pleading by conclusory allegations or by 1 stating legal theories explicitly if the facts upon which the pleader relies are also stated.” (Italics supplied.)

Apparently consistently with such rule, the attorney for the petitioners has added his affidavit to the petition and after a lengthy discourse on chiropractic practice and an involved analysis of certain questions which appeared on the April, 1964 examination, he concludes: “ The sources of deponent’s knowledge, which are the basis for the statements made herein, upon information and belief, are not only petitioners, but are certain leading practitioners of chiropractic, several educators now teaching in chiropractic schools, several former educators in the chiropractic field, certain affidavits by other leading Chiropractors which were filed in the proceeding entitled ‘ Wasmuth, et al. v. Allen ’, commenced in the Supreme Court, Westchester County, and one prominent professor of a New York State Medical 'College.”

Who they are specifically or what phase of the material contained in his affidavit they were responsible for is left to pure speculation.

Since legal conclusions must be predicated thereon this court feels that such a deficiency transcends form and enters the realm of substance.

Assuming, arguendo, that such a conclusion is without a valid foundation and the deficiency is merely one of form we still must dispose of the more fundamental problem of the substance of the petition as a pleading.

The petitioners herein claim their petition is sufficient by virtue of the allegations embraced within paragraphs 20-27 thereof.

They claim, more specifically, that such allegations divide their grievances into four main categories directed to the basic subject examinations given to those with less than seven years of chiropractic practice.

First, they claim, in paragraph “ 20 ”: “Upon information and belief the respondents in giving the examinations in the aforesaid ‘ basic subjects ’ to the petitioners chose questions [89]*89prepared by the Board of Medical Examiners which questions were prepared to test the qualifications of Doctors of Medicine and in no way were applicable to the practice of Chiropractic as the same is defined in Section 6550 of Article 132.”

Second, they claim, in paragraph “ 21 ”: “ Moreover, the aforesaid examinations in the ‘ basic subjects ’ as prepared by the Board of Medical Examiners and as given by the respondents as aforesaid, examined and otherwise required knowledge and competence of the Chiropractic practitioner in certain fields of medicine which by Article 132, Section 6558, he would be prohibited from practicing, even if duly licensed.”

Third, they claim, in paragraph “ 22 ”: 11 The examinations in the basic subjects ’ as previously given by the respondents required that petitioner be as conversant with the said ‘ basic subjects ’ as would be a medical practitioner, instead of in fact demonstrating that ho had ‘ some knowledge ’ of the said subjects.”

Fourth, they claim, in paragraph “23”: “ Respondents in giving examinations as aforesaid in the ‘ basic subjects ’ of hygiene and bacteriology were not complying with Article 132 of the Education Law since Section 6507 of the said law does not now (nor did it at the time of the effective date of Article 132) provide for such examinations.”

Subdivision 2 of section 6552 of article 132 of the Education Law provides, in part: “ In the examinations in the basic subjects the department shall use the questions prepared for the same subjects in the examination pursuant to sections sixty-five hundred seven and sixty-five hundred eight of this title.” (Italics supplied.)

Section 6507 provides, in part: “ The board shall submit to the department, as requested, lists of suitable questions for thorough examination in anatomy, physiology, preventive medicine and public health, chemistry, surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pathology, micro-biology, and medicine and diagnosis.” (Italics supplied.)

Section 6508 provides, in part: “ The regents may adopt a rule supplementing the written examination by oral, laboratory, and clinical examinations in the subject of diagnosis.”

In view of such provisions the fourth claim of the petitioners would seem to have no merit whatever, since section 6552 does not limit the interrogations to only those subjects provided for in section 6507 but mandates only the use of section 6507 questions on the examinations involving the subjects of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pathology and diagnosis without precluding examinations on the additional basic subjects enumerated [90]*90in subdivision 1 of section 6552 such as hygiene and bacteriology.

By the same token the first claim of the petitioners likewise is without merit since only the question of whether the respondents had violated the provisions of section 6507 by not using questions prepared by the board for those applicable subjects would be reviewable.

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Related

Albert v. Allen
23 A.D.2d 456 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
45 Misc. 2d 87, 255 N.Y.S.2d 981, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/albert-v-allen-nysupct-1965.