American Veterinary Medical Association Sued for Restraint of Trade by Private California University
Western University of Health Sciences, a private, non-profit academic
health center in Pomona, Calif., has sued the American Veterinary Medical
Association (AVMA), accusing it of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The suit stems from the AVMA’s refusal to grant Western University the
first step toward accreditation of its planned College of Veterinary
Medicine.
The federal lawsuit claims the AVMA, the only recognized accrediting body
for veterinary education in the United States, has used its monopolistic
powers to effectively block Western University from opening a veterinary
school, thus preventing an exciting new educational model from competing
with existing veterinary medicine schools.
Western University has challenged the veterinary education establishment
by seeking to open an innovative college of veterinary medicine on its
Pomona campus that will train veterinarians more effectively and yet less
expensively than traditional veterinary schools do. The lawsuit was filed
in April, but the university delayed serving it on the AVMA until October
13 while it tried to overcome the accrediting body’s stated objections to
its proposal. Shirley D. Johnston, dean of the College of Veterinary
Medicine, said that when the AVMA refused earlier this month to reverse
its previous denials of the application, Western University decided it had
no alternative but to proceed with the suit.
“”We don’t want to sue the AVMA said Philip Pumerantz, PhD, Western
University president. “”We want to work with them to educate new
veterinarians. But the unreasonableness and intransigence of this
accrediting body and the secrecy with which they make decisions leaves us
no choice. It has been a most frustrating experience.””
In the suit, Western University contends that when the AVMA’s Council on
Education (AVMA/COE) twice reviewed and rejected its application for
a “”Letter of Reasonable Assurance”” – the first step toward accreditation –
it was not acting in an objective and unbiased way. The 27 existing
American colleges of veterinary medicine, as well as many of the nation’s
practicing veterinarians, desire to limit competition by controlling the
number of veterinary schools and practitioners in the market place, the
suit says.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, asks the court to
compel the AVMA to issue Reasonable Assurance and to apply its
accreditation policies and procedures to Western University in a fair and
unbiased manner. The university also seeks monetary damages.
Western University says in the suit that when it began the accreditation
process for its College of Veterinary Medicine two years ago, it did not
know that it was doomed from the outset because of an agreement among the
AVMA and existing veterinary colleges to prevent any new schools from
being accredited. In denying Western University’s request for a Letter of
Reasonable Assurance, the suit says, the AVMA/COE failed to:
