Unlicensed practice enforcement action in Missouri

David E. Roland, a member of the Missouri Bar and the Freedom Center of Missouri, has posted an interesting document on JDSupra. It is the Defendants motion for summary judgment in Missouri Veterinary Medical Board v. Gray, Case No. 10CN-CV00842, Clinton County Circuit Court, served March 30, 2011. Apparently, the Plaintiff floats horses' teeth* but is not a licensed veterinarian in the state, and the Board says that this is unlicensed practice of veterinary medicine. Mr. Roland summarizes his client's position in the case:

Accused by a government agency of engaging in criminal activity, Brooke Gray has for months been fighting to be given the constitutional protections usually afforded to the criminally accused: a presumption of innocence, the right to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege without being penalized, the right to have her case heard by a jury of her peers. It appears that the trial court is unwilling to afford her these protections. Ironically, the very statute that the Veterinary Medical Board has invoked as authority to strip her of her livelihood forbids the Board to seek injunctive relief unless the accused is also being criminally prosecuted - meaning that they [sic] would have the very constitutional protections Brooke has been demanding. Brooke has no desire to actually be prosecuted, but by throwing down the gauntlet and demanding that the Board either thoroughly treat her as the criminal it has accused her of being - including granting her constitutional protections - or drop the case entirely, she is denying the Board its ability to keep this case on its own terms.

Setting aside the emotional content, there is an interesting issue here about the intersection between regulation and criminal prosecution. Many Federal agencies may choose between civil and criminal responses to violations of the same statute or regulation. The Missouri statutes seem less clear. Students would probably like to know how this conflict would fall out in their jurisdictions. If anyone not involved in the case who knows more about the facts, history, and local law involved would like to write up an analysis of the matter, I'd be happy to post it for our readers (email me directly).

* "Floating teeth" means filing a horse's teeth so that it can chew properly. Horses may not get enough natural wear on their teeth, which can then grow until the grinding surfaces no longer mesh adequately.

EMM