Court Opinion

ID: 9871574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 20:35:55.07749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:19.857121
License: Public Domain

ROTHSCHILD, P. J.,
Concurring.—In June 2012, the California Horse Racing Board (Board) ordered a statewide, 12-month suspension of clen-buterol (the 2012 suspension). The following year, in June 2013, the Board extended the statewide suspension of clenbuterol for an additional 12 months (the 2013 suspension). Jose De la Torre’s alleged violations occurred entirely within the term of the 2013 suspension.
I agree with my colleagues that California Code of Regulations, title 4, section 1844.1 prohibits, through reenactments or extensions, the suspension of a particular substance for more than 12 months. The 2013 suspension of clenbuterol, which extended its 2012 suspension beyond 12 months, was therefore invalid. Because the Board’s authority to discipline De la Torre depended upon the validity of the 2013 suspension, the Board’s decision must be reversed. I therefore concur in the majority’s disposition in this case.
Because the Board’s discipline of De la Torre must be reversed based on the invalidity of the 2013 suspension, we need not decide whether the 2012 suspension was invalid. The majority opinion nevertheless states that the 2012 suspension, as well as the 2013 suspension, is invalid. (Maj. opn. ante, at p. 1072.) Because I would prefer not to decide that issue in dicta, but leave it for another day, I decline to join in the majority opinion. (See, e.g., Young v. Three for One Oil Royalties (1934) 1 Cal.2d 639, 647-648 [36 P.2d 1065]; *1073Estrada v. RPS, Inc. (2005) 125 Cal.App.4th 976, 987 [23 Cal.Rptr.3d 261] (conc. opn. of Mallano, J.).)