California Health and Safety Code 11705 – (a) Any one or more of the following persons may bring an …
(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.
Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 11705
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Individual user of an illegal controlled substance: means the individual whose use of a specified illegal controlled substance is the basis of an action brought under this division. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Marketing of illegal controlled substances: means the possession for sale, sale, or distribution of a specified illegal controlled substance, and shall include all aspects of making such a controlled substance available, including, but not limited to, its manufacture. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Person: means an individual, governmental entity, corporation, firm, trust, partnership, or incorporated or unincorporated association, existing under or authorized by the laws of this state, another state, or a foreign country. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Place of illegal activity: means , in relation to the individual user of an illegal controlled substance, each county in which the individual illegally possesses or uses an illegal controlled substance during the period of the individual's use of an illegal controlled substance. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Place of participation: means , in relation to a defendant in an action brought under this division, each county in which the person participates in the marketing of illegal controlled substances during the period of the person's participation in the marketing of illegal controlled substances. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Specified illegal controlled substance: means cocaine, phencyclidine, heroin, or methamphetamine and any other illegal controlled substance the manufacture, cultivation, importation into this state, transportation, possession for sale, sale, furnishing, administering, or giving away of which is a violation of Section 11351, 11351. See California Health and Safety Code 11703
- Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Health and Safety Code 12.2
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
(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.)