Whittemore

This action involves the Drug Dealer Liability Act (the Act). (Health & Saf. Code, § 11700 et seq.) It authorizes a user of an illegal controlled substance (and specified others) to recover damages resulting from its use from those who knowingly market the substance. It extends to substances for which a prescription is required. (§§ 11703, subd. (1), 11352.) The question tendered is whether a pharmacy is liable under the Act for the conduct of an employee who furnished stolen prescription drugs to the plaintiff.

For more than a year, plaintiff Melody Whittemore bought black-market prescription pain medications, including OxyContin, from defendant Steven Correa, an employee of defendants, and she became addicted. The pain medications were schedule II controlled substances that may be dispensed legally only by prescription. (§§ 11055, 11352.)

Thereafter, Melody and her husband Kennith L. Whittemore sued Correa and his employers, defendants Owens Healthcare-Retail Pharmacy, Inc., and Omnicare, Inc. (the pharmacies), from whom they allege Correa obtained the illegal controlled substances, on the ground that the pharmacies failed a legal duty to plaintiffs to discover and…