Biden Admin Opposes Dental Board Immunity In SmileDirectClub Case

The Biden administration weighed in on SmileDirectClub’s lawsuit challenging restrictions imposed on it by Georgia’s dental board, urging the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reject the board’s request for “state action” immunity against the company’s antitrust claims, reported Bloomberg Law.

In their joint brief, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission stated that a federal judge’s decision denying the board’s state-action immunity bid shouldn’t be subject to appeal in the first place. But if the Eleventh Circuit does review the ruling, it should affirm, they argued.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, stems from an investigation on SmileDirectClub, which supplies 3-D printed teeth aligners without the need to visit a doctor’s office, sued Alabama’s Dental Board and its members in 2018.

The company alleges that the board, in the name of public health and safety, improperly stymied its ability to compete in order to protect traditional dentists and orthodontists’ business interests.

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