November 2005

Oregon board pays, apologizes to Holder

A complaint filed in 2002 against the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners (OBCE) has resulted in a sizeable settlement award to Jay Holder, DC, MD, PhD, and an apology for actions it took against him.

The dispute began in 1998, when the OBCE refused to accept continuing education credits for courses offered by the Holder Research Institute and the American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders. The board held that Dr. Holder's MD and PhD degrees were not legitimate since they were awarded by institutions not recognized by the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization. Holder appealed the order, arguing that the decision was based on information distributed by a chiropractic publication that had written several articles attacking him. He noted that board members never researched the information about his degrees to discover whether any of it was valid, but wrongfully denied him vendor status because of personal and political bias.

Although Holder's degrees subsequently were determined to be legitimate, the board's executive director, Dave McTeague, allegedly continued to disseminate derogatory information about Holder.

On Nov. 25, 2002, McTeague's conduct was found to be in Intentional Contempt of Court and he was ordered to pay all of Dr. Holder's legal fees, provide a letter of apology to more than 50 persons and organizations, and ordered remedial sanctions.

However, according to a second contempt action filed by Holder, McTeague "resumed, expanded and magnified the contempt already found by this court" by sending an official OBCE publication called Back Talk to every Oregon chiropractor and to numerous other persons at the expense of the state of Oregon.

The newsletter contained further unlawful disclosures, Holder claimed. "It is now manifestly clear that... defendant (McTeague) has made clear his intention to continue, extend and magnify his contempt in order to pursue his personal vendetta and hatred of Dr. Holder...and to use the financial and legal resources of the State of Oregon for that purpose," the complaint stated.

The second contempt action has been settled and, according to a letter signed by McTeague, "Holder and the Board have now settled all differences between them and the Board has agreed to pay Holder the sum of $12,000 and issue an apology to him."

The letter also explains that "Dr. Holder has provided evidence to the Board supporting his position that his MD and PhD degrees are legitimate degrees and that he earned the degrees by legitimate academic endeavors from schools that he believes to be accredited and authorized to issue those degrees. The Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners has no pending proceedings and has not made any findings against Dr. Holder."