Reddick v. State

• Court: Maryland Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Before BRUNE; PRESCOTT
• Citation: Reddick v. State, 213 Md. 18, 130 A.2d 762 (Md. 1957)
• Decision Date: 09 April 1957
• Docket Number: No. 146,146
• Parties: Robert H. REDDICK, M. D. v. STATE of Maryland.

Page 18

213 Md. 18

130 A.2d 762

Robert H. REDDICK, M. D. v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 146.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 9, 1957.

John J. O'Connor, Jr., Baltimore, for appellant.

Norman P. Ramsey, Deputy Atty. Gen. (C. Ferdinand Sybert, Atty. Gen., and James H. Norris, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellee.

Before BRUNE, C. J., and COLLINS, HENDERSON, HAMMOND and PRESCOTT, JJ.

PRESCOTT, Judge.

A bill for declaratory decree and injunction was filed on June 26, 1956, by the State of Maryland on relation of the Attorney General against Drs. Robert H. Reddick, Marcos Jiminez, Robert Dwight Brown, Lloyd W. Hughes, Simon Virkutis, Alexander Mozzer, Yuen K. Yuan, and William C. Harrison, who were purporting to act as the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of Maryland (Board), representing the Maryland State Homeopathic Medical Society. A temporary injunction was issued thereon by an order of Judge Oppenheimer of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City. The next day, a companion case was filed against those who held themselves out as the officers of the Maryland State Homeopathic Medical Society (Society). The temporary injunction was extended, after a hearing on July 3, 1956, until the final determination of the case. The appellant filed combined demurrers and answers and the cases were heard before Judge Byrnes. After a prolonged hearing, the Judge rendered his opinion and signed a decree in each case. In the suit against the Board, the decree permanently enjoined the defendants from acting as the Board of Medical Examiners (Homeopathic), and from conducting, continuing to conduct and completing any examination under the purported authority of such Board, and they were further prohibited from issuing any licenses that would authorize the practice of medicine or surgery under the purported authority of said Board. The decree, also, enjoined Reddick from acting or purporting to act as Secretary-Treasurer of said Board. In the suit against the Society, Dr. Virkutis, President, and Reddick, Secretary-Treasurer, were enjoined from acting as officers of the Society to give examinations 'allegedly qualifying persons to practice medicine' in Maryland, and from affixing the Society's Seal to any such license.

The Record Extract contains 551 pages, but it will be unnecessary to make this opinion correspondingly lengthy. For some years before, and at, the turn of the century there had been and was a division of opinion among the respectable members of the medical profession. One faction favored the practice of homeopathic medicine and the other group preferred the allopathic treatment of human illness. As a result, the legislature in 1902, Art. 43, Sec. 118, named two separate and independent licensing boards with authority to issue licenses to practice medicine in this State. The board that represented the allopathic point of view was to be designated by the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, and the one that represented the homeopathic viewpoint was to be selected by the Maryland State Homeopathic Medical Society. With the course of time and the commendable and universally recognized advances in medical science, the allopathic group became dominant in membership, and the homeopathic following dwindled in size and in activities. By the years 1948, 1949, and 1950, the latter had become more or less moribund, and there were few, if any, candidates for examination. In 1951, Dr. Evans, a distinguished physician, who was both Secretary of, and a vital force in, the Society died. For a time, this seems to have been the death knell of the Society. There is no record of its holding any meeting, after one that was held on May 10, 1950, the last one attended by Dr. Evans, until May 23, 1954, when the Society met for its 79th annual meeting. Just a few months prior thereto, in January 1954, Dr. Evans' daughter had turned over, with the authority of the remaining members of the Board, all of its records to the Hall of Records. She retained, however, the minute books and the constitution and by-laws of the Society.

The record does not disclose with certainty just when Reddick conceived his nefarious scheme, which now will unfold quickly, but at this 'reorganization and rejuvenation' of the Society held on May 23, 1954, he was most active and succeeded in being elected to the office of Secretary of the Society, as well as one of the eight members of the Board. It was at this meeting that the group, claimed by the Attorney General to be the legally constituted Board (subject to resignations, et cetera) was elected. At the Society's annual meeting of 1955, held in Washington, D. C., a resolution was passed 'that the officers of the Society and the Board * * * continue in office until 1956 * * *.'

In due course, the Board scheduled examinations for qualified applicants for licensure on December 12th, 13th and 14th of 1955. Reddick, in the meantime, had shown an unusual interest in establishing the qualifications of the graduates of two schools for taking the examination, although he had received competent advice that neither of the two schools was accredited by any authoritative body, and their graduates could not lawfully qualify for the examinations. Reddick, however, without the knowledge or consent of the other Board members gave the December examinations to twenty-three candidates, none of whom seems to have had the requisite qualifications to take them. The evidence developed the fact that some of the applicants paid or 'contributed' to the 'Society' four hundred dollars or more, which was immediately subject to Reddick's control. Dr. Chepko, who was the president of the Society, became disturbed and alarmed, and notified the Attorney General that Reddick had given these examinations. Reddick as Secretary, acting on the alleged authority of a fraudulent constitution and by-laws of the Society (which will be mentioned below), and as a reprisal, purported to remove Dr. Chepko as president of the Society and as a member of the Board. Upon the advice of the Attorney General, Dr. Chepko refused to acknowledge this action of Reddick as valid. Reddick, still acting alone, purported to make Dr. Virkutis, his subordinate on the staff of the Eastern Shore State Hospital, a member and president of the Board, and got Virkutis to sign 35 to 45 blank licenses to practice medicine. Shortly thereafter, without calling a Board meeting, Reddick issued six licenses to practice medicine in this State, presumably from those which were signed in blank. Dr. Chepko then called a meeting of the Board at which Reddick was removed as its Secretary-Treasurer. The Board also authorized the Attorney General to bring action in Dorchester County to require Reddick to give up the Board's books and records.

On April 8, 1956, there was held what purported to be the 81st annual meeting of the Society, apparently at the instigation of Reddick. The minutes show that 30 persons were present, but only five residents of Maryland attended in person, and two other such residents were present by proxy. All of the others were non-residents. Every one of the applicants who had taken the December examinations was present in person or by proxy, and every motion at the meeting was made and seconded by one of such applicants. At this meeting, the action of Reddick in attempting to expel Chepko was purportedly ratified, and Drs. Swartwout, Watson, Simon and Follweiler purportedly were expelled, and four new men named to be on the Board of Medical Examiners in their places, namely, Drs. Jiminez, Brown, Hughes and Virkutis.

On May 31, 1956, during the litigation in Dorchester County, Reddick resigned as Secretary-Treasurer of the Board and of the Society. Two days thereafter, according to Reddick, a special meeting of the Society was purportedly held, although no notice was given to the membership as required by the By-laws. It was attended by only five persons besides Reddick, who was the only Maryland resident there. He claims the meeting reinstated him to the offices previously held by him. It is very doubtful that this meeting ever was held. On June 4, 1956, Dr. Chepko's board met and invalidated the December examinations, and elected Dr. Simon to fill the vacancy in the office of Secretary-Treasurer created by Reddick's dismissal and resignation. Reddick continued to issue the licenses to practice medicine, and in the latter part of June, 1956, when these suits were filed, was conducting examinations for fifty-nine applicants, few, if any, being qualified to take such examinations in Maryland.

There was offered by the appellee, Exhibit 18A, which purported to be the real Constitution and By-laws of the Society, and Reddick, likewise, introduced a purported Constitution and By-laws, that delegated to him almost regal powers. Of this last instrument, Judge Byrnes said it is 'a palpably fraudulent document'; and of Reddick's testimony, he stated it is 'unworthy of belief in general'. With these findings of the Chancellor, we are in complete accord.

I

As a result of the above events, there were two boards of medical examiners, each claiming to represent the Society. The first board, sanctioned by the Attorney General, had its origin in the 79th annual meeting of the Society. As of the date of the filing of these suits, its membership, after allowance for resignations, allegedly consisted of Drs. Simon, Follweiler, Harrison, Watson and Chepko. The claim of this group (Chepko's board) to be the legal board rests upon the validity of the actions taken at the 79th annual meeting, and the invalidity of the actions of Reddick and the purported actions of the 81st annual meeting. The second board (Reddick's board), on the other hand, rests its claim that it constitutes the legal board upon the validity of the 81st annual meeting, and some supposed action taken at a purported meeting on June 2, 1956.

The Chancellor decided...