AVMA Antitrust Lawsuit: LMU, Accreditation, and Intern Pay

The AVMA antitrust lawsuit is a federal case filed by Lincoln Memorial University in June 2025 accusing the American Veterinary Medical Association of using its monopoly over veterinary school accreditation to block new programs, restrict the supply of veterinarians, and keep prices high. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and in December 2025 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest warning that accreditation bodies are not exempt from antitrust law.¹

What Lincoln Memorial University Is Alleging

LMU, which operates the Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine and describes itself as the largest veterinary school in the country with 225 students per class, filed its complaint on June 18, 2025 as Case No. 3:25-cv-00282.² The complaint accuses the AVMA and its accrediting arm, the Council on Education, of conspiring to restrain trade, eliminate competition, reduce output, and raise prices in both veterinary education and veterinary care.³

The specific targets are accreditation standards that require access to research faculty, specialized facilities, and graduate student interaction. LMU argues those requirements do nothing to make graduates more competent as practicing veterinarians and instead function as barriers that only well-endowed or research-funded schools can clear.²

LMU is not asking for money. It wants a court order stopping the AVMA from enforcing what it calls arbitrary standards, and it wants the Council on Education permanently separated from the AVMA itself.⁴

The lawsuit did not come out of nowhere. In October 2024, the Council on Education placed LMU on probationary status after finding a major deficiency in its research program and a minor deficiency in admissions.⁴ LMU calls the probation retaliation, timed to follow the school’s approval to expand enrollment.⁵ The complaint also warned that a planned second campus in Orange Park, Florida faced impending accreditation denial, though reporting from September 2025 indicated the accreditor ultimately approved that second school.

Why the AVMA’s Structure Raises Antitrust Concerns

The AVMA’s Council on Education is the only accrediting body for veterinary schools recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Every state requires a degree from an accredited school to sit for the licensing exam, so the Council effectively controls who can enter the profession. For decades the country has had roughly 33 to 34 accredited veterinary colleges, all accredited by the AVMA.¹

The Council’s 20 members are drawn largely from existing veterinary schools and the AVMA itself, with a small number of public and Canadian representatives.⁶ LMU’s antitrust theory turns on that composition: the people deciding whether new schools may open are drawn from the schools and profession that would face competition from them.

The AVMA’s Response

The AVMA filed a motion to dismiss in September 2025. It argued that LMU’s claims are not ripe, that the Council’s standards are reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education, and that any anticompetitive effects flow from state licensing laws rather than from accreditation itself.⁷ In later filings, the AVMA characterized the DOJ’s concerns about professional gatekeeping as “irrelevant” to the specific claims in this case.⁸

As of late 2025 the court had not ruled on the motion. The case is before Judge Varlan.⁷ If the motion is denied, the case moves into discovery, where LMU could seek internal AVMA communications and data about how standards were developed and applied.

The DOJ Statement of Interest

On December 15, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the case. The filing lets the government present its view of the legal questions without endorsing either side’s version of the facts, and the DOJ was explicit that it took “no position on the plaintiff’s claims.”⁹

What the DOJ did say cut directly against the AVMA’s defense. It argued that accreditation practices are not exempt from antitrust law simply because the AVMA is federally recognized as an accreditor or because states require graduation from accredited programs. The department warned that accreditors composed of market participants who set standards behind closed doors face an “inherent conflict of interest when regulating admission into a profession,” and it emphasized that antitrust law demands procedural safeguards against self-interested rulemaking.¹ The DOJ also urged that the case move to the evidence-gathering stage rather than be dismissed at the outset.⁷

LMU’s attorney Tom Thagard said the university “welcomes” the filing, calling it a strong rebuttal of the AVMA’s immunity argument.⁷ A statement of interest is not binding on the court, but the DOJ’s involvement makes an early dismissal less likely.

The Shortage Debate That Underlies the Case

LMU’s antitrust theory depends on showing that AVMA gatekeeping artificially limits the supply of veterinarians and drives up prices. The evidence on the shortage is contested.

A 2024 study projected a need for roughly 70,000 new veterinarians through 2032 but estimated only about 53,000 graduates would be available, meeting 76% of demand.¹⁰ In 2025 the USDA identified 243 rural veterinary shortage areas across 46 states, the highest number ever recorded.¹¹

The AVMA disputes those numbers. A 2024 analysis it commissioned from Brakke Consulting concluded that current schools produce enough graduates to meet demand through 2035 and found no evidence of long-term market failure. The same study cautioned that if all 13 schools currently seeking accreditation open, the number of U.S. veterinary colleges would rise by nearly 40% in a decade, which one analyst warned could depress wages and prices.¹²

The competing studies use different methodologies and are funded by parties with clear stakes. If the LMU case reaches discovery, the court will have to work through that dispute.

The Separate Class Action Over Intern Pay

The LMU case is not the only antitrust litigation involving the AVMA. On May 30, 2025, a separate class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia alleging that a group of veterinary organizations, universities, and corporate practices conspires to suppress wages for veterinary interns and residents.¹³

The lead plaintiff, veterinarian and former oncology intern Mete Ender Tuncay, targets the Veterinary Internship and Residency Matching Program, a centralized system that assigns applicants to training positions. The complaint alleges the program prohibits salary negotiation, restricts mobility, and effectively forces participation because the match controls roughly 90% of intern and resident positions and board certification typically requires completing a residency. Defendants include the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians, the AAVMC, the AVMA, several corporate veterinary employers, and university veterinary schools including Penn, Tufts, Cornell, the University of Florida, Ohio State, and Texas A&M.¹³ A related case, Amore et al. v. American Association of Veterinary Clinicians, is pending in the same court.¹⁴

This is a separate case with separate legal theories and separate plaintiffs. It is not consolidated with the LMU accreditation lawsuit.

The Precedent That Shapes Expectations

LMU is not the first school to sue the AVMA over accreditation. In April 2000, Western University of Health Sciences filed a similar antitrust claim in federal court in Los Angeles after the Council on Education repeatedly denied it a “letter of reasonable assurance,” the preliminary green light needed to admit students.¹⁵ Western alleged an agreement among existing veterinary colleges to prevent accreditation of competitors, and a key sticking point was the requirement that schools operate their own on-site teaching hospital, which Western proposed to replace with local clinics.¹⁶

The case never reached a ruling. On March 5, 2001, the Council on Education issued the letter after Western modified its curriculum and upgraded its clinical facilities, and Western withdrew the lawsuit.¹⁷ The structural questions about who controls entry into the profession went unanswered, which is part of why LMU’s suit exists.

Where the Case Stands

As of mid-2026, the LMU lawsuit is pending in the Eastern District of Tennessee with no ruling yet on the AVMA’s motion to dismiss. If the motion is denied, the case enters discovery, which could force disclosure of the AVMA’s internal deliberations about accreditation standards and their competitive effects.⁷ Thirteen additional veterinary schools are in various stages of seeking AVMA accreditation, and three newer programs are already provisionally accredited and enrolling students.¹²

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Reaffirms Veterinary Accreditation Standards and Procedures Are Subject to Antitrust Laws
2
Reuters. US Veterinary Association Sued Over Alleged Antitrust Scheme
3
dvm360. Lincoln Memorial University Sues American Veterinary Medical Association
4
VIN News. Lincoln Memorial University Sues AVMA Over Accreditation
5
WLJ. University Sues AVMA Over Competition Concerns
6
AAVMC. Accreditation
7
VIN News. DOJ Files Statement in LMU v. AVMA
8
Law360. Veterinary Group Says DOJ Accreditation Points Irrelevant
9
dvm360. Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in LMU Lawsuit
10
AAVMC. Demand for and Supply of Veterinarians in the U.S. to 2032
11
WOAH. Building the Veterinary Pipeline
12
AVMA. No Dire Shortage of Veterinarians Anticipated in Coming Years
13
classaction.org. Tuncay v. American Association of Veterinary Clinicians et al., Complaint
14
Berger Montague. Veterinary Antitrust Class Action
15
Western University of Health Sciences. American Veterinary Medical Association Sued for Restraint of Trade by Private California University
16
Chronicle of Higher Education. Health Sciences University Sues Veterinary School Accreditor
17
Western University of Health Sciences. Western University of Health Sciences Withdraws Lawsuit Against National Professional Association