Rayborn v. Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners

601 F. Supp. 537, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23424
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 15, 1985
DocketCiv. A. No. J81-0488(B)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 601 F. Supp. 537 (Rayborn v. Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rayborn v. Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners, 601 F. Supp. 537, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23424 (S.D. Miss. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BARBOUR, District Judge.

In this civil action, Plaintiffs, Denturists 1 and dental laboratory technicians allegedly studying to be denturists, seek damages and injunctive and declaratory relief against the Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners (hereinafter “Dental Board”) and its individual members. In the five count Amended Complaint, the Plaintiffs attack the constitutionality of the Mississippi Dental Practice Act (hereinafter “Dental Act”) — Sections 73-9-1 through 73-9-65 of Mississippi Code Annotated of 1972.2 — and seek damages and injunctive relief against the members of the Dental Board for alleged violations of the Plaintiffs’ civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985.

The Defendants have filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim and a Motion for Summary Judgment. Since the parties have presented, and this Court has considered, matters outside the pleadings, the Rule 12(b)(6) Motion will be treated as one for summary judgment. The Defendants thus must show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that [539]*539they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

In the Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs present five numbered counts. However, the arguments presented by Plaintiffs’ counsel and the claims presented in the Amended Complaint merge and reduce the legal issues. This Opinion will examine the Plaintiffs’ basic claims in, and the arguments addressed to defeat and support, the Amended Complaint to determine the propriety of Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.

The constitutionality of Mississippi’s Dental Act is attacked in two ways by Plaintiffs. First, Plaintiffs allege that the selection process for members of the Dental Board set forth in Section 73-9-7 of the Mississippi Code Annotated of 1972 (both before and after its 1983 amendment) creates a dental board which is comprised of dentists who are publicly opposed to the public practice of denturism, and, as such, the Dental Board cannot be fair and impartial to denturists, thereby denying Plaintiffs’ rights to due process. Second, Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of Mississippi’s Dental Act on other “due process” and “equal protection” grounds which are discussed below.

In their “Brief In Opposition Of Defendants’ Motion For Summary Judgment And For Dismissal For Failure To State A Claim Upon Which Relief May Be Granted” Plaintiffs agree that the delegation of the power to appoint members of a state board to the members of the regulated profession is not unconstitutional per se. Plaintiffs’ brief at page 13. However, Plaintiffs rely on certain language in Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. 1, 99 S.Ct. 887, 59 L.Ed.2d 100 (1979), to support their contention that the Dental Board, although constitutionally selected, cannot fulfill the constitutional requisites of “acting fairly and properly when prosecuting plaintiffs or other denturists.” Plaintiffs’ brief at pages 12-13. Plaintiffs rely on affidavits to demonstrate that the Dental Board has acted unfairly. Thus, Plaintiffs contend that the Dental Board has denied, or may deny, them their right to due process of the law.

A close look at the Friedman decision cited by both parties shows that, as a matter of law, Defendants are entitled to a judgment on Count I of the Amended Complaint. The Friedman Court states:

Although Rogers has no constitutional right to be regulated by a Board that is sympathetic to the commercial practice of optometry, he does have a constitutional right to a fair and impartial hearing in any disciplinary proceeding conducted against him by the Board____

Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. at 18, 99 S.Ct. at 898. There are absolutely no facts which indicate that the Mississippi Dental Board has conducted any disciplinary proceedings against any plaintiff. The absence of such facts is required because none of the Plaintiffs are licensed dentists or licensed dental hygienists. The disciplinary powers of the Dental Board are restricted to those two groups, and the Dental Board is statutorily without power to conduct any hearing in any disciplinary proceeding against any of the Plaintiffs. While the language in Friedman requires a professional regulatory board to be fair and impartial to those subject to its regulation and disciplinary proceedings so as to accord due process to those it disciplines, Friedman defeats the legal position taken by Plaintiffs with respect to Count I of the Amended Complaint. The Friedman court found that since the complaining party’s challenge to the fairness of the composition of the professional regulatory board in that case did not arise from any disciplinary proceeding against him, the challenge was meritless. Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. at 18-19, 99 S.Ct. at 898-899. The possibility that the Mississippi Dental Board would not, if it could, conduct a fair and impartial hearing in a disciplinary proceeding which it might undertake against persons similarly situated with Plaintiffs is a meritless “what if” constitutional argument, and this Court finds that there are no discernible circumstances which can support the con[540]*540tentions of Plaintiffs under Count I of the Amended Complaint.

Next, Plaintiffs undertake an argument to show that there is no rational basis for the prohibition of the practice of denturism for the public. In Count II of the Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of such prohibition which is necessarily inferred from the language of the Dental Practice Act. Plaintiffs embrace the “rational relation” test utilized by federal courts to review state statutory classifications, and do not urge that a stricter standard of review is appropriate. This Court agrees that the rational relation test is applicable.

The due process clause of the Constitution requires much less than legislative consideration of economic regulations which result in economic hardships and the imposition of restrictions on- vocational freedom of choice and enjoyment on some persons. The Plaintiffs’ due process challenge to the Dental Act is more appropriately to be addressed by the- Mississippi Legislature than by this Federal Court. As has been succinctly stated, business regulations are to be enacted and reexamined by state legislatures:

The day is gone when this Court uses the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to strike down state laws, regulatory of business and industrial conditions, because they may be unwise, improvident, or out of harmony with a particular school of thought... “For protection against abuses by legislatures the people must resort to the polls, not to the courts.”

Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc., 348 U.S. 483, 488, 75 S.Ct. 461, 464, 99 L.Ed. 563 (1955) (citations omitted) quoting Munn v. Illinois, 4 Otto 113, 94 U.S. 113, 134, 24 L.Ed. 77 (1876).

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Rayborn v. MISS. STATE BD. OF DENTAL EXAMINERS
601 F. Supp. 537 (S.D. Mississippi, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
601 F. Supp. 537, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rayborn-v-mississippi-state-board-of-dental-examiners-mssd-1985.