(a) Any one or more of the following persons may bring an action for damages caused by an individual’s use of an illegal controlled substance:
(1) A parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, or sibling of the individual controlled substance user.
(2) An individual who was exposed to an illegal controlled substance in utero.
(3) An employer of the individual user of an illegal controlled substance.
(4) A medical facility, insurer, employer, or other nongovernmental entity that funds a drug treatment program or employee assistance program for the individual user of an illegal controlled substance or that otherwise expended money on behalf of the individual user of an illegal controlled substance. No public agency other than a public agency medical facility shall have a cause of action under this division.
(5) A person injured as a result of the willful, reckless, or negligent actions of an individual user of an illegal controlled substance.
(b) A person entitled to bring an action under this section may seek damages from one or more of the following:
(1) A person who sold, administered, or furnished an illegal controlled substance to the individual user of the illegal controlled substance.
(2) A person who knowingly participated in the marketing of illegal controlled substances, if all of the following apply:
(A) The place of illegal activity by the individual user of an illegal controlled substance is within the city, city and county, or unincorporated area of the county in which the defendant’s place of participation is situated.
(B) The defendant’s participation in the marketing of illegal controlled substances was connected with the same type of specified illegal controlled substance used by the individual user of an illegal controlled substance, and the defendant has been convicted of an offense for that type of specified illegal controlled substance.
(C) The defendant participated in the marketing of illegal controlled substances at any time during the period the individual user of an illegal controlled substance illegally used the controlled substance.
(D) The underlying offense for the conviction of the specified illegal controlled substance occurred in the same county as the individual user’s place of use.
(c) As used in subdivision (b), knowingly participated in the marketing of illegal controlled substances” means a conviction for transporting, importing into this state, selling, possessing with intent to sell, furnishing, administering, or giving away, or offering to transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, administer, or give away a specified illegal controlled substance or a quantity of marijuana specified in subdivision (e), (f), (g), or (h) of Section 11703, which are separate in time.
(d) A person entitled to bring an action under this section may recover all of the following damages:
(1) Economic damages, including, but not limited to, the cost of treatment and rehabilitation, medical expenses, loss of economic or educational potential, loss of productivity, absenteeism, support expenses, accidents or injury, and any other pecuniary loss proximately caused by the use of an illegal controlled substance.
(2) Noneconomic damages, including, but not limited to, physical and emotional pain, suffering, physical impairment, emotional distress, medical anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment, loss of companionship, services and consortium, and other nonpecuniary losses proximately caused by an individual’s use of an illegal controlled substance.
(3) Exemplary damages.
(4) Reasonable attorney fees.
(5) Costs of suit, including, but not limited to, reasonable expenses for expert testimony.
(Added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 867, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1997.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018