Gipson v. Kasey
Arizona Supreme Court
150 P.3d 228 (2007)
Larry Kasey (defendant) shared whiskey and his own prescribed oxycodone pain pills with coworkers at a party, giving eight pills to a coworker's girlfriend, and that coworker, Nathan Followill, died that night from a lethal combination of alcohol and oxycodone; Followill's mother, Susan Gipson (plaintiff), sued Kasey for wrongful-death negligence, and the trial court granted Kasey summary judgment for lack of any duty of care, which the appellate court reversed before Kasey appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Whether a criminal statute prohibiting distribution of prescription drugs without a valid prescription creates a tort duty of care owed to someone within the class the statute was designed to protect.