Opinion ID: 747684
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effect of Restrictions

Text: 44 A more difficult question is whether substantial evidence supports the Commission's conclusion that CDA in fact restricted truthful, nondeceptive advertising. On its face, the Code only extends to false and misleading advertisements. The Commission found that through its pattern of enforcement, the CDA went beyond the literal language of its rules to prohibit ads that were in fact true and nondeceptive. 6 The CDA's advisory opinions and guidelines indicate that across-the-board discounts and descriptions of prices as reasonable or low do not comply with the Code. Although these guidelines are not directly binding on member dentists, the Commission staff presented evidence that the CDA has relied on them in making decisions about members' advertising on appeals from disciplinary decisions by component societies and on review of membership applications referred by components. In numerous cases, the CDA advised components that advertising did not comply because it included reasonable or affordable language. 45 Similar evidence supports its findings on the issue of discounts. Although Dr. Kinney, one member of the Judicial Council, testified that the guidelines might not bar all across-the-board discounts, other testimony is to the contrary. For example, one member suggested that advertising a senior citizen discount, standing alone, would violate the rules. The Commission's opinion cites numerous cases in which the CDA advised members of objections to special offers, senior citizen discounts, and new patient discounts, apparently without regard to their truth. It may be that there is some confusion even within the CDA about the extent to which truthful price advertising is restricted. But there are enough examples of CDA objections to truthful ads to find that substantial evidence supports the FTC's conclusion. 46 In terms of the nonprice advertising, advisory opinion eight expressly states that claims as to the quality of services are inherently likely to be false or misleading. The evidence before the ALJ demonstrates that the CDA, following this guideline, has often advised components that the Code of Ethics bars such claims, without any inquiry into whether or not, in a particular case, they were true. On numerous occasions, CDA also informed its components that guarantees were barred by state law. Taken together, there is sufficient evidence that the CDA restricted nonprice advertising without any particular consideration of whether it was true or false.