Senate Passes Bill on Suing of Drug Dealers

Drug dealers could be hit with lawsuits filed by drug users, drug babies and other victims of narcotics under sweeping legislation approved Monday by the state Senate.

The bill is supported by actor Carroll O’Connor, whose son committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction.

By a 33-0 vote, the Senate sent the Assembly the measure by Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier). It would use the civil courts as another way to penalize people allegedly involved in drug trafficking.

“It allows anyone injured . . . to be able to recover losses, including drug babies,” Calderon said.

Under the legislation, an alleged drug dealer could be sued by one of his customers, a member of the customer’s family, the customer’s employer, someone who was injured by illegal drug use while a fetus, a medical facility, or a person injured by the willful, negligent or reckless actions of a drug user.

It also would allow drug dealers to be sued on the basis of “market share” liability if the dealer sold the same type of drug that caused the injury, in the same county, at the same time the injury occurred.

“This bill opens up a new front in the war on drugs by giving more power to the average citizen to fight drug dealers,” said Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

The American Civil Liberties Union complained that the bill would allow lawsuits “not only without any finding of criminal responsibility but without any causal connection whatsoever between the defendant and the injured party.”

“This bill is drug asset forfeiture by another name,” the ACLU said in a statement. “It continues the disturbing trend of using civil mechanisms for criminal law problems.

“It is so broadly drafted, and the chain of causation so nonexistent, that it eliminates the needs to find individualized guilt before holding a person responsible for civil damages.”