Texas State Board of Dental Examiners v. Fieldsmith

242 S.W.2d 213, 26 A.L.R. 2d 990, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1610
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 13, 1951
Docket14399
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 242 S.W.2d 213 (Texas State Board of Dental Examiners v. Fieldsmith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas State Board of Dental Examiners v. Fieldsmith, 242 S.W.2d 213, 26 A.L.R. 2d 990, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1610 (Tex. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

CRAMER, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment'. On August’25, 1950 appellee, a licensed and practicing Doctor of Dental Surgery in Dallas, Texas, filed suit in the District Court of Dallas County’’ to set aside an order of appellant dated July 29, 1950, suspending his license' to practice his profession, for a period óf 60'days from August 15, 1950. Appellant’s'' order" was entered in a proceeding' authorized by Art. 752c, sec. 4,' Vernon's Ann.P.C., charging appellee with unprofessional conduct in the practice of Dentistry as set out in Art. 752b, subdv. (o). After notice 'by appellant Board to appellée to appear before the Board'''in - the' Adolphus 'Hotel, in Dallas, Texa's, on June 18, 1950, to answer the 'complaint, áppellee refused to respond to the notice, but his attorney, by letter, re-quésted a continuance of the hearing' from *215 .5:30 P. M. Sunday, June 18, and a resetting •on some future date other than a Sunday or a legal holiday. Appellant Board overruled and rejected the request in'such letter for 'lack of merit and diligence. The 'Board, on Sunday, June 18, 1950, at 3:30 P. M., proceeded to hear the' evidence on the complaint against appellee, which evidence ■raised the question of fact for the Board ■on the charge, and took the same under consideration. ’ Thereafter, without due notice to appellee, the Board held a short 'hearing in Mineral Wells, and ón such-hearing, after feach' member ' of the Board agreed upon a disposition of the case, they entered their order on- July 29, 1950, at '9:00 A.M., finding appellee Dr. Field-smith guilty as charged, and assessed the ^penalty ab.ove set out. From that order an appeal to the District Court of Dallas County was duly, perfected under Penal Code, Art. 752c, sec. 5.-

After the necessary motion, notice, hearing, etc., the District Court entered a summary judgment setting aside and holding for nought appellant’s order. This appeal is •duly perfected from such District Court •order. Appellant assigns five points of error. We will consider the first four points together. They assert: -(1) Error of the trial court in finding that the order made by appellant was void because the ■ Board proceeded with the hearing and the trial of •charges against him on Sunday; (2) error in holding, as a matter of law, that the hearing on Sunday and the failure to give legal notice of the final hearing in July at Mineral Wells constituted a suspension-of appellee’s right tó practice his profession without due process of law, for the reason ■that the appellant, an administrative Board, is not prohibited from performing ministerial acts on Sunday; (3) that the Board’s hearing on Sunday was a ministerial act and the order entered at its subsequent hearing at Mineral Wells is and was binding; and (4) error in holding void the order of appellant because notice was not .given appellee" as to the final hearing at .Mineral Wells.

The hearing before the Board was a quasi-judicial trial on the merits of the charge; however, the appeal to the District Court under Art. 752c, sec. 5, was not a trial de novo, but only to determine (1) if the Board acted within the scope of its delegated authority; (2) .if its orders were supported by substantial evidence; and (3) if the Board acted arbitrarily and capriciously.

All the evidence was heard by the Board on Sunday, in the absence of appellee, at a time after appellee’s attorney had written the Board by mail protesting the setting on Sunday, advising and requesting the Board to set it on so.me other day. It also appears that after hearing the evidence on Sunday, in Dallas, the Board recessed until 9 A. M., July 29, 1950, at Mineral Wells. This appears in the minutes of the Board, but no direct notice or information of such hearing at Mineral Wells was given appel-lee.

A judgment rendered on Sunday in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding is void. Guerrera v. State, 136 Tex.Cr.R. 411, 125 S.W.2d 595; Hanover Fire Ins. Co. v. Shrader, 89 Tex. 35, 33 S.W. 112, 30 L.R.A. 498; 39 Tex.Jur. 877. But appellant asserts that a setting of a hearing on, and reception of evidence on, Sunday is a ministerial act and not a judicial or quasi-judicial act.

Under- the common law as adopted in' Texas, Sunday was dies non juridicus. The exception was the performance of purely ministerial acts. The distinction between a judicial and a ministerial act is whether the act involves, or does not involve, discretion. Commissioner of the General Land Office v. Smith, 5 Tex. 471. See also Austin v. Eddy, etc., 41 S.D. 640, 172 N.W. 517.

The judicial function consists of (a)' ascertainment of facts, (b) application of law to the facts, and'(c) the rendition of a judgment or order based on the legal effect of such facts.

. An act is a ministerial act only when the record is in such condition that there is no discretion- to be exercised on the part of the Board .except, to perform ¡a particular act-or duty in but one way, as a legal and obligatory duty of his -office..

*216 Under the record here we are of the opinion that the reception of evidence and the investigation of facts by the Board involved discretion and was a quasi-judicial act. Walker v. Johnson, 312 U.S. 275 (Syls. 4-5), 61 S.Ct. 574, 85 L.Ed. 830.

The setting and hearing on Sunday were, therefore, void acts.

We further hold that the balance of the hearing later in Mineral Wells without due notice, and the entry of the order, based on evidence heard by the Board on Sunday, were void. Points 1, 2, 3 and 4 are overruled.

Appellant’s fifth point asserts errordn the rendering of a summary judgment against the Board and refusing to give it a trial de novo as to the validity of its order.

The answer of appellant Board includes a transcript of all its proceedings with reference to the matters here involved. It shows the complaint against appellee, notice to appellee of the filing of the complaint, advising him that if the complaint is docketed he would be notified. It shows an investigation was made, the complaint filed,- and appellee notified of the hearing, the material portion of the notice reciting: “You are hereby notified that the Board will hold a. meeting for the purpose of hearing and considering such complaint at 3:30 p. m. on Sunday, June 18, 1950, in the Adolphus Hotel in the City of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. * * * You are further notified that you may appear and offer such evidence as is pertinent to your defense to such complaint at the time and place above stated.” Also shows that appellee did not appear; that the Chairman of the Board entered a plea of not guilty for appellee.

The Board’s file also shows a letter dated' June 13, 1950 from appellee’s attorney, advising the Board, in substance, that he had received the notice of the Sunday setting and that since the Board would be in Dallas several days, requested the Board to reset the hearing for some date other than Sundays and legal holidays, and that he be given notice of such hearing. The Board’s reply, material here, was: “Your letter addressed to Dr. Weber concerning the complaint against Dr. Hugo Fielschmidt which has been set for June 18, 1950, has been received. .

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Bluebook (online)
242 S.W.2d 213, 26 A.L.R. 2d 990, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-state-board-of-dental-examiners-v-fieldsmith-texapp-1951.