Spunt v. Fowinkle

572 S.W.2d 259, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 306
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 24, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 572 S.W.2d 259 (Spunt v. Fowinkle) 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
Spunt v. Fowinkle, 572 S.W.2d 259, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 306 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

SHRIVER, Presiding Judge.

The Case

This is an appeal by plaintiff, Alvin C. Spunt, a chiropractor, from a decision of Chancellor C. Allen High in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, wherein he affirmed a decision of the defendants, members of the State Licensing Board for the Healing Arts, acting in their official capacity, whereby they suspended for sixty days the license of plaintiff to practice chiropractic in Tennessee.

The Proceedings Below

Plaintiff-petitioner, Alvin C. Spunt, on November 12, 1974, filed his Petition for Writs of Certiorari and Supersedeas in the Davidson County Chancery Court wherein it was set forth that petitioner was charged by the defendant Licensing Board for the Healing Arts of the State of Tennessee with violation of T.C.A. § 63-123(2), (11) by exceeding the scope of his privileges as a licensee and invading the field of medicine as defined in T.C.A. § 63-4608 (sic) (§ 63-608), and that as a result of said charges a hearing was had before said Board wherein [261]*261the charges were sustained and petitioner’s license suspended for a period of sixty days.

It is charged that there was no evidence to support the findings of the Board which were, therefore, arbitrary, and that the Board Chairman, Eugene W. Fowinkle, was disqualified by reason of economic interests from passing on the charges brought against petitioner, and that Board members Harlan Matthews and Joe C. Carr were disqualified by virtue of their lack of knowledge in the scientific exposition of the subject matter.

It is further charged that the action of the Board was unconstitutional as applied to this petitioner because it deprives him of his liberties, privileges and immunities without due process of law, and, further, because the Act purports to confer judicial powers upon an administrative tribunal composed of interested persons; that the Licensing Board for the Healing Arts of the State of Tennessee is without jurisdiction over the practice of chiropractic, and, further, that the Board of Chiropractic Examiners had previously passed on an identical action favorably to the petitioner and, therefore, the action of that Board was res judicata.

The prayer of the petition is for the issuance of a Writ of Certiorari requiring the filing in the Court of the transcript of the proceedings before the Board, and for the issuance of a Writ of Supersedeas setting aside the action of the Board.

The Order of Suspension of the Licensing Board for the Healing Arts was filed as a part of the record wherein the findings of the Board were set out in detail.

Thereafter, the Chancellor entered an Order stating:

“It appearing to the Court that counsel for the defendants do not oppose the petitioner’s application for supersedeas in aid of certiorari, it is ORDERED that a writ of supersedeas issue staying the effect of the Order of Suspension appealed from pending final action on the petition by this Court or on appeal, upon the posting of a supersedeas bond in the amount of $250.00.”

The Answer of the defendants admits certain allegations in the petition with respect to the proceedings and denies all allegations with respect to lack of jurisdiction and competence of members, etc.

After a hearing the Chancellor, on March 23, 1977, filed an exhaustive and well-reasoned Memorandum Opinion wherein, among other things, he held:

“This case is before the Court for review of the action of the Licensing Board of Healing Arts suspending for sixty (60) days plaintiff’s license to practice chiropractic. The writ of certiorari was granted in the matter prior to the passage of the Uniform Procedures Act, T.C.A. § 4-501, et seq. Review is made, therefore, pursuant to the common law writ of certiorari. T.C.A. § 27-801.
The scope of review under a common law writ of certiorari is limited to the inquiry of whether the administrative body has exceeded its jurisdiction or acted illegally. Anderson v. Carter, 512 S.W.2d 297 (Tenn.App.1974).
By letter of April 22, 1974, the Board notified plaintiff that he was charged with violating T.C.A. § 63-123(2) and § 63-123(11) by exceeding the scope of his license under § 63-401 and invading the field of medicine by making pap smears in the course of examinations, diagnosis and treatment; by drawing and analyzing blood in the course of examination, diagnosis and treatment; by conducting a complete physical examination in the course of examination, diagnosis and treatment.
A hearing was held before the Board on September 10 and 11, 1974. Plaintiff presented witnesses, testified in his own behalf and was represented by counsel.
Plaintiff testified that during the course of his practice he did conduct along with general visual and manual examinations a general physical examination which included making pap smears and taking blood for analysis.
Other licensed chiropractors testified that performing physical examinations on [262]*262their patients including drawing blood and making pap smears were done in order to diagnose the patients’ condition and to determine the appropriateness of chiropractic treatment.
The Board found that the plaintiff did take blood specimens and pap smears in the course of his practice of chiropractic in violation of T.C.A. § 63-608. The Board found no evidence of unprofessional conduct by plaintiff and made no finding as to violation of § 63-123(2).
The Board exercised its authority under T.C.A. § 63-123 and suspended plaintiff’s license for sixty (60) days.
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A person is regarded as practicing medicine who ‘shall treat or profess to treat, operate on, or prescribe for any physical ailment or any physical injury to or deformity of another,’ but chiropractors ‘not giving or using medicine in their practice’ are not to be regarded as practicing medicine. T.C.A. § 63-608.
The exception made in T.C.A. § 63-608 for chiropractors not giving or using medicine in their practice does not preclude a finding that a chiropractor has engaged in the practice of medicine in violation of T.C.A. § 63-123(11).”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
572 S.W.2d 259, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spunt-v-fowinkle-tennctapp-1978.