Tancredi v. Commonwealth

421 A.2d 507, 54 Pa. Commw. 394, 1980 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1807
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 27, 1980
DocketAppeal, No. 890 C.D. 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 421 A.2d 507 (Tancredi v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tancredi v. Commonwealth, 421 A.2d 507, 54 Pa. Commw. 394, 1980 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1807 (Pa. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge MacPhail,

Raphael S. Taneredi, Richard J. Taneredi, t/a Taneredi Apothecary (Petitioners) have filed a timely appeal to this Court from the order of the State Board of Pharmacy (Board), which revoked the Pharmacist licenses of Petitioners Raphael and Richard Taneredi and revoked the Pharmacy permit of Petitioner Taneredi Apothecary pursuant to Section 5 of the Pharmacy Act (Act), Act of September 27, 1961, P.L. 1700, as amended, 63 P.S. §390-5.

[396]*396In June of 1976, following an investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) charged Petitioners with eight violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §842(a) (5).1 An administrative hearing was held and Petitioners entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with DEA. This document did not specifically admit the truth of the charges lodged by DEA, but Petitioners agreed to rectify conditions found objectionable by DEA and to institute procedures in compliance with federal law. The record shows that Tancredi Apothecary received a reprimand as a result of the proceedings instituted by DEA, that a follow-up investigation by DEA revealed that all violations cited by DEA had been corrected, and that the DEA file on Tancredi Apothecary is closed.

The Board issued a citation to Petitioners based on the DEA allegations and a hearing was held on July 19, 1977. At the beginning of the hearing, counsel for the Commonwealth moved to amend the cita[397]*397tion to include new allegations resulting from an investigation conducted by the Commonwealth prior to the hearing.2 Petitioners were advised that a continuance would be granted in light of the new allegations, but they chose to proceed with the hearing as scheduled.

The record shows that Petitioners admitted to all but one of the allegations of the citation and admitted to the additional allegations. Petitioners offered testimony only to explain the violations and mitigate the possible consequences thereof. Following the hearing, the Board revoked the licenses of Petitioners Raphael and Richard Tancredi and the permit of Tancredi Apothecary.

Petitioners raise four issues for our review: (1) whether the Board’s conclusions of law are supported by the findings of fact; (2) whether the Board’s findings concerning the drug Ritalin are based on substantial evidence; (3) whether Pharmacy Regulation 27.18(u), 49 Pa. Code §27.18(u), is invalid because it [398]*398is based on federal regulations and is, therefore, an unlawful delegation of tbe Board’s rules making power; and (4) whether the Board’s order is an unduly harsh and excessive penalty under the circumstances of this case.

I. Whether the Board’s conclusions of law are based on the findings of fact.

A. Violations of Section 5(a)(6), Section 5(b) (2), and Regulation 27.18(u)

Petitioners assert that the Board’s conclusion that they have violated. Sections 5(a)(6)3 and 5(b)(2)4 of the Act, 63 P.S. §§390-5 (a) (6) and 390-5 (b)(2) and Regulation 27.18(u),5 49 Pa. Code §27.18(u) is only [399]*399a general assertion of violations of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, Act of April 14, 1972, P.L. 233, as amended, 35 P.S. §780-101 et seq. and the Federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §801 et seq., and does not provide Petitioners with notice of what particular substantive provisions their conduct violated. Petitioners argue that, because of the Board’s failure to determine, at the hearing, such matters as frequency of violations and whether the violations were gross or de minimus, the revocation order is arbitrary and capricious. Based on their alleged ignorance of what provisions of the law they have violated and the Board’s failure to ascertain all details surrounding each allegation, Petitioners argue that the Board’s conclusion that they have violated provisions of the Act is not supported by the findings of fact.

At the outset of the Board hearing, the Commonwealth’s attorney stated that “. . . respondents agree to all allegations (in the citation) except No. 9. . .” The attorney then requested leave to amend the citation to add other charges and stated, “Counsel is willing to stipulate to all of these new violations. . . .” At that point, Petitioners’ counsel stated that it was his client’s wish to have everything heard at once and “the opportunity to explain all of the allegations, to the best of our ability in mitigation thereof and to explain the full extent thereof.” (Emphasis added.)

Petitioners now contend they are not bound by the stipulations because they never expressly agreed to them at the hearing. However, at the hearing Petitioners did not allege that the citation lacked suffi[400]*400cient detail to inform them of what substantive provisions of law they had violated and did not seek clarification of the citation on this or any other basis. Further, Petitioners did not offer evidence that their admitted conduct was not, in fact, violative of the Act. Petitioners presented testimony to explain their conduct, but did not offer any evidence that any violations were few or de minimus. It is clear that Petitioners have waived these issues. Administrative Agency Law, 2 Pa. C. S. §703(a).

Petitioners’ tactic before the Board was an obvious attempt to secure leniency in exchange for contrition and a promise of future good behavior. Now that that ploy has failed, Petitioners cannot escape the consequences of their voluntary admission and their conscious decision to offer no defense to the Board.

B. Violations of Section 5(a) (9)

The Board concluded that Petitioners had violated Section 5(a)(9)6 of the Act, 63 P.S. §390-5(a)(9), [401]*401based on allegations 1 through 8 and the additional allegations added at the hearing.

Petitioners argue that the conduct alleged to have violated Section 5(a)(9) is not enumerated in the subsection and, therefore, is not grossly unprofessional conduct, citing Pennsylvania State Board of [402]*402Pharmacy v. Cohen, 448 Pa. 189, 292 A.2d 277 (1972). We agree and hold, therefore, that the Board’s conclusion that Petitioners violated Section 5(a)(9) is in error.

II. Whether the Board’s finding concerning Bitalin is based on substantial evidence.

The Board found that, from June 26, 1975 through June 6, 1976, Petitioners filled 110,000 prescriptions for the controlled substance Bitalin. The Board found further that the number of prescriptions for Bitalin dropped to 1200 for the period from October 1,1976 to April 22,1977.

Actually, the record clearly shows that Petitioners had purchased 110,000 tablets of Bitalin in the period from June 26,1975 through June 6,1976. This means that they could have filled only about 2,619 prescriptions of 42 tablets each during that period. By the same token, the number of prescriptions

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
421 A.2d 507, 54 Pa. Commw. 394, 1980 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1807, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tancredi-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1980.