Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 640 enacts the Kansas Drug Dealer Liability Act. The Act makes persons who are convicted of an illegal drug violation within this state, another state, or under federal law, liable for civil damages and allows persons injured by this activity to bring suit against them.

Persons entitled to bring suit include:

• parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, or sibling of the individual drug user;



• an individual who was exposed to an illegal drug in utero;



• an employer of the individual drug user;



• a medical facility, insurer, governmental entity, employer, or other entity that funds a drug treatment program or employee assistance program for the individual drug user or that otherwise expended money on behalf of the individual drug user; or



• a person injured as a result of the willful, reckless, or negligent actions of an individual drug user.

Further, an illegal drug user under certain conditions, e.g., who has disclosed to law enforcement all information known about the person's sources of illegal drug activity may bring suit.

A person entitled to bring an action may seek damages from one or more of the following:

• a person who was convicted of an illegal drug violation and actually sold or offered for sale an illegal drug that was actually used by the individual drug user; and



• a person who was convicted of an illegal drug violation if:

• the place of illegal drug activity by the individual drug user is within the illegal drug market target community of the defendant;



• the defendant's conviction of an illegal drug violation was connected with the same type of illegal drug used by the individual drug user; and



• the defendant was convicted of an illegal drug violation at any time during the individual drug user's period of illegal drug use.

The liability of defendants other than individual drug users shall be joint and several liability.

A person entitled to bring an action may recover all of the following damages:

• 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 illegal drug use;



• 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 drug;

• exemplary damages not to exceed $10 million;



• reasonable attorney fees; and



• costs of suit, including, but not limited to, reasonable expenses for expert testimony.

An illegal drug user could not recover noneconomic damages nor punitive damages.

The bill provides immunity to controlled substance and non-controlled substance drug manufacturers who are registered under state or federal law. It also clarifies that a claim or judgment shall not constitute an obligation or liability against any insurer or third party payor.

In addition, the Kansas long-arm statute under the Code of Civil Procedure is amended to extend the personal jurisdiction of the state courts to nonresidents who participate in the illegal drug market.

Finally, the bill would raise the amount in a wrongful death action from the current $100,000 to $350,000.

Background

The bill was supported by the Kansas Attorney General, the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, and others who said this proposed legislation would be a most important tool in fighting illegal drug activity. Ten states have adopted similar legislation.

The original bill would have no discernable fiscal impact on the state.

The House Committee narrowed the scope of the bill to apply to convicted persons and also raised the wrongful death amount.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.