Brodsky v. California State Board of Pharmacy

344 P.2d 68, 173 Cal. App. 2d 680, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1642
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 15, 1959
DocketCiv. 23634
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 344 P.2d 68 (Brodsky v. California State Board of Pharmacy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brodsky v. California State Board of Pharmacy, 344 P.2d 68, 173 Cal. App. 2d 680, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1642 (Cal. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

VALLÉE, J.

The State Board of Pharmacy suspended petitioner’s license to practice as a licentiate in pharmacy for 30 days, stayed execution of the order, and placed him on probation for one year on specified conditions. The appeal is from a judgment denying a writ of mandate to compel the board to annul its order.

The accusation against petitioner charged a violation of section 4385 of the Business and Professions Code 1 which provides that any person who permits the compounding of prescriptions or the selling of drugs in his pharmacy except by a registered pharmacist is guilty of a misdemeanor, in that on November 27, 1956, he permitted a person who was not a registered pharmacist to compound and sell a prescription ; and a violation of section 4386 which provides that any proprietor of a pharmacy who fails or neglects to place in charge of such pharmacy a registered pharmacist is guilty of a misdemeanor, in that as a proprietor of a pharmacy he neglected to place in charge of the pharmacy a registered pharmacist at a time when he was not in the pharmacy.

The hearing officer who received the evidence found: 1. On November 27, 1956, Ray Bascom entered the pharmacy owned by petitioner with a label containing a prescription originally filled at Owl Drug, and presented the label to Louis *683 Resnick. 2. Resnick was at no time licensed in any capacity by the board. 3. Resnick refilled the prescription and delivered it to Bascom. 4. At the same time Resnick also sold to Bascom two other items which could lawfully be sold only by a registered pharmacist. 5. At the time Bascom entered the pharmacy there was no registered pharmacist on duty. 6. Petitioner had opened the pharmacy in the morning and had remained on duty throughout the day until about 6 :45 p. m., at which time he left the pharmacy, crossed the street to a drive-in to obtain some food, and returned to the pharmacy within 45 minutes. 7. Petitioner usually has only one pharmacist on duty.

The hearing officer further found: 1. Petitioner has instructed and received written acknowledgment from all of his employees that they were not to sell any items which the law required a registered pharmacist to sell, and that when the registered pharmacist went across the street for the purpose of obtaining food the employees were to wave to petitioner or the pharmacist to have the pharmacist return to the pharmacy to handle any matter that only a registered pharmacist could lawfully handle. 2. Resnick violated the instructions of petitioner in making the sale to Bascom. 3. Petitioner has not suffered any prior disciplinary action by the board and has been licensed about 30 years.

The hearing officer concluded petitioner had violated sections 4385 and 4386 and recommended suspension of the license with a stay and probation. The findings and recommendation were adopted by the board as its decision. Thereafter the superior court denied a writ of mandate after reviewing the record before it.

On November 27, 1956, Ray Bascom, an investigator for the board, entered petitioner’s-pharmacy. Petitioner was not there. Resniek, petitioner’s employee, who was not a registered pharmacist, was alone in the pharmacy. Bascom presented a prescription label to Resniek and requested him to fill it. Resniek telephoned the pharmacy where the prescription had first been filled to get the details and filled the prescription. It called for Equanil 2 or Miltown. 3 Resniek handed a bottle containing the prescription and bearing a label to Bascom.

About a half hour later Bascom reentered the pharmacy *684 accompanied by Douglas, an inspector for the board. Douglas told Resnick he had illegally filled the prescription and asked him where petitioner was. Resnick said he was not in the pharmacy. Resnick was then asked to telephone petitioner and have him return to the pharmacy. Resnick made a telephone call. About 15 minutes after the call, petitioner came into the pharmacy. Douglas told petitioner he had received a prescription filled by Resnick and had purchased two other restricted class B poisons. 4

Petitioner’s first point is that neither the evidence nor the findings of fact of the board support its conclusion that he permitted the selling of drugs by an unregistered pharmacist. He states the question thus : “Has a person permitted the sale of drugs in his pharmacy, by an unregistered pharmacist, so as to violate Section 4385 of the Business and Professions Code, when such person has not expressly or impliedly authorized such sale, and when such person has no knowledge of the making of such sale, and when such person has previously given specific instructions to his employee not to make such sales and has taken precautions to prevent the sale?” He argues that the word “permit” as used in section 4385 connotes knowingly allowing a thing to happen; it means that, when such person has present knowledge of such a sale being made, or when such person knows or anticipates that such a sale is likely to be made, such person allows or tolerates such sale to be made, and there was no evidence he knowingly allowed Resnick to sell the drugs to Bascom.

The verb “permit” is derived from the Latin word “permitiere” which means to concede, to give leave, to grant. It is a word of considerable elasticity, and lacks clear-cut and precise definiteness. It is not a technical word, and in English it has two significations, the first being where the mind consents to the act, the second where the mind does not affirmatively agree to the act, but, having the right and the means to interfere to prevent it from happening, fails to do so. In the first sense it means affirmative action, an authorization, being properly used with reference to permanent authority, and implying knowledge, • intention, and consent. In the second sense it means negative action, something less than consent, implying no affirmative act and involving no intent, but being mere passivity; abstaining from preventive action. (70 C.J.S. 565.)

*685 The authorities are not harmonious in their construction of the verb “permit.” Some say it implies knowledge, coupled with the duty and power to prevent the particular act or omission; others say its signification is where the mind does not affirmatively agree to the act, but, having the right and the means to interfere to prevent it from happening, fails to do so. In other words, its exact significance varies with the context of its use.

People v. Conness, 150 Cal. 114 [88 P. 821], was a prosecution in which the information charged that defendant did “permit” his wife to remain in a house of prostitution. The statute provided that any man who by any means permits the placing or leaving of his wife in a house of prostitution, or allows or permits his wife to remain therein, was guilty of a felony. Defining the words “allow” or “permit” as used in the statute, the court stated (p. 121):

“The word ‘allow’ here means more than mere ‘abstinence from prevention,’ as the court below defined it in an instruction given to the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
344 P.2d 68, 173 Cal. App. 2d 680, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brodsky-v-california-state-board-of-pharmacy-calctapp-1959.