Cordak v. Reuben H. Donnelley Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 September 1960
• Docket Number: No. 35874,35874
• Citation: 169 N.E.2d 321,20 Ill.2d 153
• Parties: Eugene E. CORDAK, d/b/a A B Dental Plate Laboratory et al., Appellants, v. REUBEN H. DONNELLEY CORPORATION, Appellee. (People ex rel. Illinois StateDental Society et al., Intervenors-Appellees.)
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 321

169 N.E.2d 321

20 Ill.2d 153

Eugene E. CORDAK, d/b/a A B Dental Plate Laboratory et al., Appellants, v. REUBEN H. DONNELLEY CORPORATION, Appellee. (People ex rel Illinois StateDental Society et al., Intervenors-Appellees.)

No. 35874.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 14, 1960.

Rothschild, Hart, Stevens & Barry, Chicago, for appellants.

Sidley, Austin, Burgess & Smith, Chicago, for Reuben H. Donnelley Corp.

Peterson, Lowry, Rall, Barber & Ross, Chicago (Owen Rall, and John R. Porter, Chicago, of counsel), for intervenor.

BRISTOW, Justice.

Plaintiffs, as dental laboratory technicians, appeal directly to this court from a decree of the superior court of Cook County finding the 1959 amendment to section 5a of the Dental Practice Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1959, Stat.1959, chap. 91, par. 60a) to be constitutional, dissolving the temporary injunction previously issued and dismissing plaintiffs' complaint for want of equity.

Since the constitutional validity of the above-referred-to amendment to section 5a of the Illinois Dental Practice Act is directly involved in this case, the appeal is properly taken direct to this court. Ill.Rev.Stat.1959, chap. 110, par. 75(1).

There is no dispute as to the facts involved in this case and the issues presented are solely matters of law. Plaintiffs are each dental laboratory technicians, each engaged in their own trade and business of constructing and repairing, extraorally, prosthetic dentures, bridges, and other replacements for teeth or parts thereof. In June, 1959, plaintiff Cordak, d/b/a A B Dental Plate Laboratory, placed his order for directory representation in the 1960 edition of the Chicago Classified Telephone Directory published by the defendant, Donnelley Corporation, commonly called the 'Red Book' which advertisement read as follows:

'A B Dental Plate Labtry

                Logan Square
                District
                A.B. CA 7-4060
                2715 1/2 N. Milwaukee
                Lakeview District
                DI 8-5053
                1932 1/2 W. Irving Pk. Rd
                Specializing in Repairing
                Duplicating and Making of
                New Dentures
                Serving the Dental Profession Since 1919
                Member Ind.  Dent. Lab.  Asso
                1932 1/2 W Irving Pk ..... DIversey 8-5053
                2715 1/2 N Milwke ..... CApitol 7-4060'
                

In September of 1959 the other plaintiff, d/b/a Grand & Ashland Dental laboratory, placed an order with the defendant for publication in the Chicago Red Book of an announcement reading as follows:

'Grand & Ashland Dental Laboratory

Emergency Plate Repairs

Immediate Service

1609 W. Grand Ave.

Serving the Dental Profession since 1940

1609 W. Grand Ave. ..... CAnal 6-0678'

The defendant Donnelley Corporation refused and declined to print and publish each of said announcements so ordered by the plaintiffs, solely and entirely on the basis of the 1959 amendment to section 5a of the Illinois Dental Practice Act. Prior to such 1959 amendment the defendant Donnelley Corporation had accepted for publication the announcements contracted for by these plaintiffs as well as other dental laboratory technicians. Its refusal to publish the announcements above referred to is based on the fact that they contained more than name address and telephone number of the dental technician.

Plaintiffs thereupon filed a complaint for declaratory judgment that the 1959 amendment to the Dental Practice Act was unconstitutional and void and further seeking to enjoin the defendant Donnelley Corporation from refusing to publish their announcements because of such amendment. A temporary injunction, after notice, was issued restraining the defendant Donnelley Corporation from refusing to publish plaintiffs' announcements in the 1960 Chicago Red Book. The Illinois State Dental Society and certain dentists, hereinafter referred to as intervenors, were given leave to intervene pursuant to an order limiting the issues to be adjudicated to the constitutionality of said amendment. The case was heard by the trial court sitting without a jury on an agreed statement of facts. The trial court in its decree found the amendment constitutional, dissolved the temporary injunction previously issued and dismissed plaintiffs' complaint for want of equity.

Plaintiffs in their complaint and in this court contend that the prohibition against advertising contained in the 1959 amendment to the Illinois Dental Practice Act violates both the United States constitution and the constitution of the State of Illinois in the following respects:

A. That it is an abridgement of the plaintiffs' right to speak freely within the first amendment to the United States constitution and deprives plaintiffs of the right freely to speak, write and publish on all subjects in violation of article II, section 4, of the Illinois constitution, S.H.A.

B. That it violates the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution by depriving plaintiffs of their property without due process of law and by depriving them of equal protection of the law, and that it violates article II, section 2, of the Illinois constitution because:

1. It is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable;

2. There is no relation to the evil sought to be remedied;

3. It prevents plaintiffs from informing their customers of the nature and description of methods used and of qualifications of plaintiffs;

4. It prevents plaintiffs from informing customers of important matters such as change of management, change of name, former location, hours of business, speed and efficiency of service, number of years in business, experience of personnel, type of materials used, and the like;

5. It is an attempt to regulate phases of plaintiffs' business not connected with the practice of dentistry;

6. It prevents plaintiffs from specifying the types of customers with whom they are prepared to do business and from specifying that their announcements are directed only to lawful customers and not to members of the public.

C. That it impairs plaintiffs' right to freely contract to carry out legitimate functions of their business, in violation of article I, section 10, of the United States constitution and article II, section 14, of the illinois constitution.

The brief of defendant Donnelley Corporation limits itself to urging this court to give careful consideration to any law or regulation, however beneficial its purpose, which tends to impair the freedom of contract and the right of freedom of speech.

The intervenor's position is that the 1959 amendment in question is a valid exercise of the State's police powers.

The 1959 amendment to section 5a of the Illinois Dental Practice Act which is at issue in this litigation provides: 'Announcements in business and telephone directories shall be limited to name, address and telephone number, and shall not occupy more than the number of lines necessary to disclose such information.'

In order to properly consider the issues in this case, it is necessary to consider section 5a, as amended, as a whole and it reads as follows:

'5a. Licensed dentists may employ or engage the services of any person, firm or corporation to construct or repair, extra-orally, prosthetic dentures, bridges, or other replacements for a part of a tooth, a tooth, or teeth. A person, firm or corporation, so employed or engaged, when constructing or repairing such dentures, bridges or replacements, exclusively, directly and solely for licensed members of the dental profession, and not for the public or any part thereof, shall not be deemed or considered to be practicing dentistry as defined in this Act. However, it is unlawful for persons, firms or corporations so employed or engaged, to advertise in any manner the appliances constructed or repaired, or the services rendered in the construction, repair or alteration thereof, except, that persons, firms or corporations so employed may announce in trade journals and professional publications which circulate among members of the dental profession, their names, the locations or places of their business, their office hours, telephone numbers, and the fact that they are engaged in the construction, reproduction or repair of such appliances, together with such display advertisements as disclose the character and application of their work, and persons, firms or corporations so employed or engaged may furnish to licensed dentists information regarding their products, materials, uses and prices therefor. Announcement may also be made by business card, in business and telephone directories, and by signs located upon the premises wherein the place of business is situated, but announcements made by business card or in business and telephone directories and signs shall not contain any amount as a price or fee for the services rendered, or to be rendered, or for any material or materials used or to be used, or any picture or other reproduction of a human head, mouth, denture or specimen of dental work or any...