OMAHA, Neb.—The Nebraska Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from two veterinarians who said the State Racing Commission owed them more than $500,000 for income lost while their disciplinary cases were hung up in the courts.
The commission initially suspended Stacy Van Horn and Douglas Brunk until January 2006 after several horses they treated tested positive for a banned medication following a race at Fonner Park in 2001.
The Lancaster District Court shortened the suspensions—to July 2003 for Van Horn and to July 2004 for Brunk—but commission appeals dragged out the case to July 2005. Van Horn and Brunk couldn’t be licensed to practice on Nebraska tracks in the interim.
Van Horn claimed lost income of $294,000 for the 2004 and ’05 racing seasons; Brunk claimed lost income of $250,000 for 2005.
The veterinarians first asked the district court to rule on the lost income, but the district court said that its jurisdiction ended with its ruling on the length of the suspensions.
The high court, in its ruling Friday, said it lacks power to rule on a matter upon which the district court did not act and affirmed the commission’s motion to dismiss the case.
O. William VonSeggern of Grand Island, attorney for Van Horn and Brunk, was out of town Friday and unavailable to comment.
Varying facets of the Van Horn and Brunk case have been heard in state courts and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last year that the veterinarians could not sue the racing commission.
The federal lawsuit said commissioners violated Van Horn’s and Brunk’s civil rights in the investigation and subsequent suspension. The 8th Circuit said that because the commission, in essence, acted as a court, it was entitled to immunity from such lawsuits.
The pair had been banned after several horses tested positive for Clonidine, which is used to treat high blood pressure in humans and is also used as an anti-bleeding medication for horses.
According to the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, horses often experience hemorrhaging in their lungs when they exert themselves.
This condition, called “bleeding” in the industry, causes the release of blood into the airways, thus diminishing the horse’s performance.
Racing rules prohibit all but two drugs—a painkiller and a different anti-bleeding agent—in horses on race day to minimize the influence of drugs on the horses.
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