Breiner v. State Dental Commission

In Breiner v. State Dental Commission, 57 Conn. App. 700, 750 A.2d 1111 (2000), the Court affirmed a trial court's decision declining to apply the futility exception to the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies. The plaintiff in Breiner, a dentist, was the subject of a disciplinary proceeding before the state dental commission. He claimed that he could not receive a fair hearing because board members had taken a position publicly on a policy issue related to the dispute. Relevant to our inquiry in the present case is our reasoning in Breiner that the position taken by the board members concerned the standards of practice rather than knowledge or a position taken on the adjudicative facts specific to that dispute. "Standards of practice comment on the appropriate conduct of an entire profession, not just a particular individual. Accordingly, standards of practice . . . need not be treated as factual information contained in the record of an administrative proceeding." Id., 707.