Court Opinion

ID: 9677449
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:52:49.212229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:56.061048
License: Public Domain

Weaver, J.
Plaintiff brought suit against defendants, twelve pharmacies and twenty-two pharmacists, alleging that defendants repeatedly sold Schedule V (21 USC 812), nonprescription, codeine-based cough syrup to plaintiff, perpetuating his preexisting substance abuse problem. Plaintiff alleged defendants’ repeated cough syrup sales to him constituted negligence and a breach of the professional standard defendants owed him. Defendants collectively moved for summary disposition under both MCR 2.116(C)(8) and MCR 2.116(0(10). The trial court granted defendants’ motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8), stating that they owed no duty to identify an addicted customer and then refuse to sell him a controlled substance. Plaintiff now appeals as of right. We affirm.
Plaintiff asserts that the pharmacists owed him the duty to refrain from dispensing to him Schedule V, nonprescription controlled substances. We disagree. The claim is so clearly unenforceable as a matter of law that no factual development could possibly justify a right of recovery. Wade v Dep’t of Corrections, 439 Mich 158; 483 NW2d 26 (1992).
This Court has previously rejected the theory that a pharmacist owes a customer a legal duty to monitor drug usage. Adkins v Mong, 168 Mich App 726; 425 NW2d 151 (1988). We find the pharmacists owed no duty to plaintiff to discover his addicted status; failing knowledge of that, they had no duty to refuse to sell to him.
Affirmed.
Michael J. Kelly, P.J., concurred.