Court Opinion

ID: 9490736
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:53:13.97702+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:17.361557
License: Public Domain

REAL, District Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent.
The history and background of this matter has been well delineated by the majority so I need not repeat it here.
I dissent because I believe that the California Dental Association (CDA) is a nonprofit professional association that does not operate commercially. Rather the CDA simply makes available to its members services that can best be provided through a group in ordér to obtain the best price and service from outside business enterprises; i.e., insurance companies, equipment suppliers, telephone services, auto leasing and financing. The CDA has nothing to do with competition in the dental profession. As such the California Dental Association is not subject to the authority of the Federal Trade Commission. Community Blood Bank of Kansas City Area, Inc., v. F.T.C., 405 F.2d 1011 (8th Cir.1969). These non-profit membership organizations have no place in the commercial world of the F.T.C. The majority appears to base their F.T.C. jurisdictional ruling on “pecuniary benefits” that do not in anyway result from the business of the Association but rather from the' individual action of the members in group procurement to obtain the best price from outside sources that compete for their business) The members are true consumers of competitive products offered to them through their group — the CDA.
Assuming arguendo that the F.T.C. has jurisdiction to regulate the CDA, the majority’s approval of the quick look analysis to the Rule of Reason used by the F.T.C. cannot be *731supported. The rules of the CDA as presented to the F.T.C. are not per se a restraint on competition in the dental profession nor are they sufficiently anti-competitive on their face to eschew a full-blown rule of reason inquiry.
What the CDA was attempting to accomplish by its rules concerning advertising did not amount to a restraint on price competition. In its efforts to self-monitor the dental profession in the relationship of its members to the public, the CDA was attempting to guard against misleading or unreliable advertising by its members. What the CDA was monitoring was that dentists who wishes to advertise discounts would have to fully disclose to the public the nature of the discounts. Full disclosure is neither price fixing nor is it a ban on non-deceptive advertising.' The advertising provisions of the CDA’s Code of Ethics does not in any way infringe upon the rights of any member to advertise providing the advertising is not “false or misleading in any material respect.” If Section 10 of the Code is applied erroneously to any member’s advertising there are provisions to appeal the decision to the CDA Judicial Council, and of course ultimately to the. courts of the State of California.
The majority agrees that, at worst, a Rule of Reason inquiry is applicable to the anti-competition claims of the F.T.C. They also agree that the Rule of Reason is the “rule” and that the quick look is the exception. Yet in the absence of any naked restraints they still attempt to satisfy the use of the exception. Furthermore, the majority finds a restraint on competition without the supporting help from any of the economic principles to be applied to a full market power analysis.