Title: Indiana Board of Pharmacy v. Horner

State: indiana

Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court

Document:

241 Ind. 326 (1961)
172 N.E.2d 62
INDIANA BOARD OF PHARMACY
v.
HORNER.
No. 29,779.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed February 6, 1961.
*328 Edwin K. Steers, Attorney General, and Frank E. Spencer, Deputy Attorney General, for appellant.
Arthur J. Sullivan, Lee M. LeMay, David Millen and Steers, Klee, Jay & Sullivan, all of Indianapolis, for appellee.
JACKSON, J.
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Marion Superior Court, Room No. 4, in a proceeding for judicial review of the action and decision of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, by which judgment the trial court set aside and vacated the finding and determination of appellant that appellee was guilty of gross immorality in connection with his duties as a licensed pharmacist on account of the large amount of narcotic drugs he dispensed to one Louise Davis (whose full and correct name is Claire Louise Davis).
Appellee presented to the trial court, by verified petition, the issue of whether or not the order of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy was arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion, because, as he asserted, there was no evidence whatsoever to substantiate it, that there was no charge or evidence of violation of Acts 1911, ch. 117, § 3, p. 443, being § 63-1120, Burns' 1951 Replacement, known as the State Pharmacy Board Act under which he is licensed, that the charges and evidence do not constitute "gross immorality." He also presented as issues the contentions that his constitutional *329 rights, privileges and immunity were violated in the hearing and proceedings before appellant in that he was accused and judged by the same board and members; that the finding and order of the board exceeded its statutory jurisdiction in that he had no duty to make an effort, diligent or otherwise, to determine whether or not the physicians issuing said prescriptions acted in good faith; that the charges against him do not constitute a violation of the Act under which he was licensed; that he was denied due process of law in that he was prosecuted by the same person or persons who made the investigation against him and who sat in judgment upon him; that the finding of the Board is unsupported by substantive evidence for the reason that absolutely no evidence was introduced that he had at any time acted in bad faith, that he had no knowledge that Louise Davis was an addict, nor that he had filled any particular one or all of said prescriptions.
We think it pertinent in this appeal that a part of the record, embodying a portion of appellee's appeal from the Board be here incorporated for the purpose of pin pointing some of the attendant circumstances leading to this entire proceedings.
*331 At the conclusion of the trial the Marion Superior Court, Room No. 4 found for the appellee and the following conclusions and judgment were entered.
The appellant's assignment of error contains seven specifications. The errors assigned, omitting the formal parts, are as follows:
When a circuit or superior court reviews the action of an administrative board pursuant to the Administrative Judicial Review Act, such review is not a trial de novo, but is based solely upon the record of the board's proceedings. Acts 1947, ch. 365, § 18, p. 1451, being § 63-3018 Burns' 1951 Replacement; City of Plymouth v. Stream Pollution Cont. Bd. (1958), 238 Ind. 439, 151 N.E.2d 626. The statute allows that the findings, decisions or determination of such agency may be set aside if: (1) It is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law; or (2) it is contrary to constitutional rights; or (3) it is in excess of the jurisdiction granted by the statute; or (4) it is contrary to proper statutory procedure; or (5) it is unsupported by substantial evidence. Acts 1947, ch. 365, § 18, p. 1451, being § 63-3018, Burns' 1951 Replacement, supra. The trial court based its decision on reasons one and five above.
Before going into the facts and the evidence upon which they may be found, several principles relevant to administrative fact adjudication should be discussed. In the first place the board, not the court, determines issues of fact. Warren v. Indiana Telephone Co. (1940), 217 Ind. 93, 118, 119, 26 N.E.2d 399; Blue Ribbon Pie Kitchens v. Long (1952), *333 230 Ind. 257, 103 N.E.2d 205; See: 28 Ind. L.J. 293, 325. Furthermore the reviewing court cannot weigh conflicting evidence which appears in the record of the Board's hearing for the purpose of detemining for whom it preponderates. Blue Ribbon Pie Kitchens v. Long, supra; Pollock v. Studebaker Corporation (1952), 230 Ind. 622, 625, 105 N.E.2d 513.[1] In the last cited case concerning the court's jurisdiction to reverse an Industrial Board case because of a lack of substantial evidence the court laid down the following principles:
Acts 1947, ch. 365, § 18, p. 1451, being § 63-3018, Burns' 1951 Replacement, supra, provides that the reviewing court shall set out its findings upon the relevant facts as shown by the record.
The record shows that between April 7, 1955, and May 16, 1957, the appellee sold narcotics almost daily, sometimes more than a single prescription on a certain day, to one Claire Davis. These prescriptions were for either tablets of 1/16 grain of Dilaudid or for tablets of 1/4 grain of morphine. On several occasions there were discrepancies between dates and prescription numbers. Also there is evidence that several times the *334 prescriptions were filled prior to issuance by a doctor. The Board did not find that any of the prescriptions were filled without the sanction or order of a physician. The record shows that most of the prescriptions were written by a Dr. Waymire who had contacted a Federal Narcotics Agent concerning Miss Davis' situation. After meeting with the federal agent, Dr. Waymire continued prescribing the narcotics for Miss Davis until his death. Several other physicians then continued the prescriptions. The record shows that Miss Davis was suffering from various ailments, having undergone some seventeen operations since 1936, some of which were of a serious nature. The record is devoid of any evidence concerning any criminal action for violation of either state or federal narcotic laws.
The record shows no relevantly important conflict in the evidence, it being cumulative rather than contradictory. From the previously stated facts the Board found that appellee did not act in good faith in carrying out his state and federal statutory duties because of his selling narcotics to a person he knew or should have known was an addict; and that such bad faith constituted "gross immorality."
Keeping in mind the principles stated in Pollock v. Studebaker Corporation, supra, it can be stated that a Board must be given the benefit of all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the evidence. Such inferences cannot however be indulged when the facts are insufficient or when common and correct modes of reasoning are not applied.
In the case at bar the evidence concerning the physicians prescribing the narcotics, apparently in good faith, and the evidence concerning the role of the federal agent, is neither controverted nor at variance with other facts proved. Likewise, there is no controversy nor variance concerning the extremely serious physical maladies afflicting Claire Louise Davis. Under this state of facts it is difficult to see how any other inference than good faith, on the part of the appellee, can be indulged. This is in accord with the "Conclusion of Fact" of the Marion Superior Court.
This court has previously held that "Where the facts are uncontroverted and only one inference can be drawn therefrom, the question ... becomes one of law for the reviewing court." Russell v. Johnson (1943), 220 Ind. 649, 660, 46 N.E.2d 219; King v. Illinois Steel Corp. (1931), 92 Ind. App. 456, 176 N.E. 161.
With the facts being without substantial controversy, the meaning of "gross immorality" becomes a question of law.
The case of Indiana Board, etc. v. Haag (1916), 184 Ind. 333, 338, 111 N.E. 178, is a pharmacy case and defines the term "gross immorality" as follows:
The lack of good faith or the presence of bad faith would seem to be an essential element in placing facts proven within the above definition. In the Haag case the pharmacist was found to have engaged in grossly immoral acts. The pharmacist had sold liquor in the course of his business without any license to do so and without prescription. Neither of these elements are present in the case at bar.
As was stated before, there is no finding by the Board of criminal violation or prosecution, but merely a failure to carry out the intent of the narcotic act because of the large amount of narcotics sold during the time mentioned. In support of its position appellant cites several cases decided under the Federal Narcotic Laws. In United States v. Curtis, D.C.N.D.N.Y., (1916), 229 Fed. 288, the druggist without knowing the doctor or any other circumstances filled a prescription for one hundred one quarter grain morphine tablets. The most ever sold to Louise Davis upon the present record is thirty-six tablets, with knowledge of the doctor and the circumstances. The case did hold as appellant suggests, that the filling of a very large order for narcotics *337 by a dealer, unless the circumstances show to contrary, is not actually the filling of a true prescription. Such a holding would imply one of two things, (1) that the prescription was not ordered by a physician, or (2) that the physician so ordering it was acting in bad faith. Neither of these elements is present here.
In United States v. Brandenburg, 3 Cir., (1946), 155 F.2d 110, a physician prescribed as many as thirty grains of morphine to persons he had not even examined, this being a definite indication of bad faith on his part. In Jin Fuey Moy v. United States (1920), 254 U.S. 189, 41 S. Ct. 98, 65 L. Ed. 214, and Webb v. United States (1919), 249 U.S. 96, 39 S. Ct. 217, 63 L. Ed. 497, physicians and druggists were involved in actual "dope rackets" involving enormous amounts of narcotics. In both cases conspiracy was an element.
Most of the federal narcotic cases involving "bad faith" are concerned with physicians rather than druggists. (For discussion of what amounts to good or bad faith on the part of a physician see: United States v. Anthony, D.C.S.C. Cal. (1936), 15 F. Supp. 553, 558; Linder v. United States (1925), 268 U.S. 5, 45 S. Ct. 446, 69 L. Ed. 819; 72 C.J.S., Poisons, § 11, pp. 190, 191. It is beyond our comprehension how a druggist could be acting in bad faith when filling a prescription of a physician who is acting in good faith in the course of his practice.
The finding and judgment of the Marion Superior Court is therefore affirmed.
Achor, Arteburn and Landis, JJ., concur.
Bobbitt, C.J., not participating.
NOTE.  Reported in 172 N.E.2d 62.
[1]  Since there are no decisions under this Administrative Review Act concerning § 63-3018, Burns' 1951 Replacement supra, it has been necessary to resort to cases involving other agencies which are covered by other statutes in regard to judicial review.