Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine v. Mohr

1971 OK 64, 485 P.2d 235
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 18, 1971
Docket43027
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 1971 OK 64 (Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine v. Mohr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine v. Mohr, 1971 OK 64, 485 P.2d 235 (Okla. 1971).

Opinions

DAVISON, Vice Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by the Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine (herein referred to as Board) from the judgment of the lower court in favor of Charles A. Mohr, Jr., reversing a prior order of the Board in which the Board revoked the license of Mohr to practice veterinary medicine in the State of Oklahoma.

This controversy had its inception when a notice in the nature of a complaint was issued by the Board and served upon Mohr wherein Mohr was notified to appear and show cause why his license should not be revoked. The notice charged that Mohr, on six occasions, sold quantities of certain drugs to a named individual, which resulted in the conviction of Mohr in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. It was alleged that these acts by Mohr and his later conviction were in violation of 59 O.S.1961, § 689, of an Act regulating the practice of veterinary medicine, and rendered his license to practice subject to suspension or revocation.

The alleged dates and sales were as follows:

(1) September 29, 1965, 2000 capsules of secobarbital sodium;
(2) December 1, 1965, 2919 tablets of dl-amphetamine sulfate;
(3) May 3, 1966, 5201 tablets of dl-am-phetamine sulfate;
(4) May 4, 1966, 5013 tablets of dl-am-phetamine sulfate;
(5) May 7, 1966, 25,815 tablets of dl-amphetamine sulfate;
(6) July 28, 1966, 75,892 tablets of dl-amphetamine sulfate.

The procedure used and the hearing upon the notice were in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 75 O.S.Supp.1963, §§ 301-325.

The record, including the Information and conviction Judgment filed in the Federal Court, reflects that Mohr was charged in six counts (being the same as charged by the Board, supra) with violation of a United States criminal statute when he sold the drugs to a purchaser informer on the above dates; that Mohr entered a plea of Nolo Contendere to the charges; and that Mohr was found guilty of charges 3, 4, 5, and 6, which were the same as the last four charges made by the Board. Mohr was sentenced to one year on count 3, fined $1,000.00 on count 4, fined $500.00 on count 5, and suspended imposition of sentence and placed on probation on counts 5 and 6 for a period of three years. The parties agree that the conviction was for a misdemeanor and not for a felony. It appears also that counts 1 and 2 (those based on sales made September 29, and December 1, 1965) were dismissed because the federal statute had not yet become effective on those dates.

Mohr commenced serving the sentence, and soon thereafter a hearing was asked for and a hearing was had before the Fed[238]*238eral Judge for the purpose of securing a modification of his sentence. It is clear that the Judge was impressed by the information and testimony given in Mohr’s behalf, for it was the Judge’s conclusion that the purpose of the incarceration and punishment imposed by the court had been accomplished, and in short that Mohr had been rehabilitated. The court then modified the one year sentence to thirty-six days.

At the hearing before the Board, Mohr freely admitted the sales and explained the early sales of amphetamine as being the result of a friendship he had struck up with the purchaser, who said he was using the drug to “hop-up his race horses.” Mohr said his later sales were the results of threats made by the purchaser against him and his family. The record discloses that the purchaser had a long criminal record. Mohr testified that he had erred but, in effect, that his experience had effectively corrected any tendency to deviate from the course of conduct and practice required of a doctor of veterinary medicine. His witnesses also testified in his behalf as to a change for the better shown by him. It was developed on cross examination of Mohr that his Federal accreditation for testing cattle for bovine tuberculosis had been revoked in 1950, for failure to follow prescribed standards, and was restored in 1952, and was again revoked in 1958 and restored in 1961.

The Board, upon consideration of the evidence, revoked Mohr’s license. The order by which this was done sets forth a verbatim statement of that portion of the original notice (except as hereinafter described) reciting the six sales, and that “These acts resulted in the conviction of the aforesaid licensee in the United States District Court * * The order then finds from the testimony and evidence that the proof established by a preponderance of the evidence “the facts alleged in the Notice,” and found “as a conclusion of law, said facts constituted a violation of” 59 O.S.1961, § 689, “in that said licensee did commit malpractice and for having professional connection with or lending ones name to any illegal practice or practitioner of veterinary medicine and the various branches thereof.”

Section 689 does provide for revocation or suspension of a license to practice veterinary medicine for certain causes, including “ * * malpractice, in any form, * * *, or for having professional connection with or lending one’s name to any illegal practice of (or) practitioner of Veterinary Medicine and the various branches thereof.”

At this place we point out that in the preparation of the order the last enumerated sale of drugs (designated No. 5) appears to be a combination of parts of charges 5 and 6 set forth in the original notice. The order does not describe a sale No. 6. We comment that while this may be explainable as a scrivener’s error in preparing the order, the result is that the order describes a sale of drugs not set forth in the notice and not enumerated in the Information and sentence Judgment in the Federal Court and therefore not supported by the evidence. Also, the result of this circumstance was that the order did not effectively describe sales 5 and 6 with which Mohr was charged in the notice.

Mohr appealed to the District Court of Oklahoma County and that court, upon the record made before the Board, vacated and reversed the order revoking Mohr’s license. The main reasons given by the court for vacation and reversal were that the order was insufficient because it did not contain a recitation of basic and underlying facts and sufficient findings; that Mohr was only convicted of a misdemeanor and that the evidence was insufficient to show malpractice; that the Board failed to consider the rehabilitation of Mohr; and that revocation of Mohr’s license was too severe.

It is our conclusion that the lower court erred in reversing the Board’s order. It should have vacated the order and remanded the matter to the Board for further proceedings and consideration.

We first consider the form of the order relative to lack of recitation of basic and [239]*239underlying facts and sufficient findings. The requirements in this respect are stated in State of Oklahoma, ex rel. Oklahoma State Board of Embalmers etc. v. Guardian Funeral Home, Okl., 429 P.2d 732, as follows :

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Board of Examiners of Veterinary Medicine v. Mohr
1971 OK 64 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
1971 OK 64, 485 P.2d 235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-examiners-of-veterinary-medicine-v-mohr-okla-1971.