Levy v. State Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology & Audiology

578 S.W.2d 646, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 329
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 1, 1978
StatusPublished

This text of 578 S.W.2d 646 (Levy v. State Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology & Audiology) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levy v. State Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology & Audiology, 578 S.W.2d 646, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 329 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

LEWIS, Judge.

Plaintiffs have appealed from the decision of the Chancellor in affirming the Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology and Audiology (hereafter Board) in the denial of their licensure as audiologists pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-1713, the “grandfather clause” of the Licensure Act for Speech Pathologists and Audiologists of 1973.

[647]*647This is the second appeal. Plaintiffs had previously applied to the Board for a license to practice audiology. The Board held a hearing and, thereafter, denied their application.

Plaintiffs filed a petition for review in the Davidson County Chancery Court. The Chancellor affirmed the Board’s decision.

Plaintiffs subsequently appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, resulting in a remand to the Chancery Court to remand to the Board for written findings of fact and conclusions of law. Levy v. State Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology and Audiology, 553 S.W.2d 909 (Tenn.1977).

On remand, the Board reviewed the record, reaffirmed its denial, and made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, which we paraphrase:

1. The prospective licensee bears the burden of establishing compliance with T.C.A. § 63-1713.
2. The practice of audiology involves a wide variety of testing techniques and necessarily requires the capability to conduct certain tests.
3. Once the disability is ascertained, an audiologist has the capability of utilizing rehabilitative and habilitative techniques.
4. For a person to actively engage in the practice of audiology it is necessary that he or she be capable of rendering the services outlined above.
5. Prior to their application for licen-sure, plaintiffs were licensed hearing aid dispensers and fitters.
6. Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a capability of rendering the full range of testing and remedial services an audiologist would necessarily be able to perform.
7. From the personal experience of Board members, it is their opinion that plaintiffs’ professional and work experience does not constitute what is traditionally and professionally understood to be the practice of audiology.
8. The applicants have not engaged in the practice of audiology as that practice is defined by law and understood by the Board for any period of time prior to their application for licensure.

Plaintiffs’ appeal to this Court is predicated on three (3) assignments of error:

I.
TENNESSEE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY WAS ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ LICENSURE AS AUDIOLOGISTS PURSUANT TO THE LICENSURE ACT FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS AND AUDIOLOGISTS OF 1973, TENNESSEE CODE ANNOTATED SECT. 63-1702 et seq. AND THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FAILING TO REVERSE THE BOARD’S DECISION.
II.
THE DECISION OF THE TENNESSEE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY IS UNSUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE WHICH IS BOTH SUBSTANTIAL AND MATERIAL IN LIGHT OF THE ENTIRE RECORD IN THIS CASE AND THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN NOT REVERSING THE DECISION OF THE BOARD.
III.
THE TENNESSEE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY ACTED IN VIOLATION OF APPELLANTS’ CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND ON UNLAWFUL PROCEDURE AND IN EXCESS OF ITS STATUTORY AUTHORITY BY CONSIDERING FACTS NOT IN THE RECORD AND BY REDEFINING THE “PRACTICE OF AUDIOLOGY” CONTRARY TO THE DEFINITION PROVIDED IN THE TENNESSEE CODE ANNOTATED, SEC. 63-1703(g) AND THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN NOT REVERSING THE DECISION OF THE BOARD.

We will discuss the assignments together.

[648]*648The intent of the Legislature in enacting T.C.A. § 63-1701 et seq. is stated in T.C.A. § 1702:

It is the purpose and intent of the general assembly by this enactment to safeguard the public health, safety, welfare, and to protect the public from being misled by incompetent, unscrupulous, and unauthorized persons, and to protect the public from unprofessional conduct by qualified speech pathologists and audiologists, by providing the regulatory authority over persons offering speech pathology and audiology services to the public.

T.C.A. § 63-1703(f) defines “audiologist” as:

“One who practices audiology; . . ”

Subsection (g) establishes:

“The practice of audiology” means the application of nonmedical principles, methods, and procedures of measurement, testing, appraisal, prediction, consultation, counseling, and instruction relating] to hearing and disorders of hearing for the purpose of modifying communicative disorders involving speech, language, auditory function, or other aberrant behavior related to hearing loss.

T.C.A. § 63-1705(1) authorized the board:

To administer, coordinate, and enforce the provisions of this chapter, evaluate the qualifications of applicants, supervise the examination for applicants, .

That it is properly within the legislative prerogative to delegate discretionary powers to administrative bodies is well established in the law. See generally Tasco Developing and Building Corporation v. Long, 212 Tenn. 96, 368 S.W.2d 65 (1963). However, such discretionary powers cannot be unfettered. See generally Gatlinburg Beer Regulations Committee v. Ogle, 185 Tenn. 482, 206 S.W.2d 891 (1948).

In order to effectuate an orderly licensing and testing procedure, T.C.A. § 63-1710 further empowers the Board to act, in relation to establishing licensing requirements by requiring that the applicants must:

Pass an examination covering the areas of speech pathology, audiology, and speech and hearing services approved by the board. . . . Written examinations may be supplemented by such oral examinations as the board shall determine.

The content, subject matter, of the test is left to the discretion of the Board.

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Related

Tasco Developing and Building Corporation v. Long
368 S.W.2d 65 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1963)
Levy v. State Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology & Audiology
553 S.W.2d 909 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1977)
Gatlinburg Beer Regulation Committee v. Ogle
206 S.W.2d 891 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
578 S.W.2d 646, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levy-v-state-board-of-examiners-for-speech-pathology-audiology-tennctapp-1978.