Writing Assignment

INTRODUCTION
For purposes of this assignment, you will act as a Judge from the State of California.  In your role as Judge, you must confront a legal question surrounding the fictional case of a young man, Hernando Saucedo, whose life was nearly ruined after he became addicted to prescription pain medication that he purchased from Hollywood Pharmacy.  Hernando has filed a lawsuit against Hollywood Pharmacy.  The lawsuit is called Saucedo v. Hollywood Pharmacy Corporation and you have been assigned to preside over it.

FACTS OF THE CASE OF SAUCEDO v. HOLLYWOOD PHARMACY CORPORATION:

In June of 2016, Hernando Saucedo graduated from Cougar High School in Jonesburg, California.  While growing up, Hernando was very athletic and played a variety of different sports.  In high school, Hernando focused mainly on soccer and became a star player on his high school team.  Hernando was not only an athlete, however.  He was also a scholar.  Hernando was an avid reader and did well in most subjects.  His passion, however, was math.  Hernando had the highest grade in nearly every math class that he took in high school.  His dream was to become a structural engineer so he could help design and build skyscrapers.

During the fall semester of Hernandos senior year in high school, he became friends with a new group of soccer players from his high school team that he hadnt spent much time with earlier.  These new friends partied harder than Hernandos long-term friends.  Although they were underage and not legally entitled to drink alcohol, these new friends often drank alcohol anyway.  A lot of the drinking occurred at private house parties attended by large groups of students from Cougar High School and other nearby high schools and colleges.  These parties sometimes became loud and rough.  The police were called at least three times before.

The week before Halloween in 2015, one of Hernandos new friends hosted a large Halloween party at which a lot of alcohol was served.  Hernando and his friends became drunk.  Hernando left the party with two friends, Aaron and Jackson.  Although Aaron had consumed several drinks, Hernando asked Aaron for a ride home.  While driving home, Aaron lost control of the car and smashed his truck in a tree.  Hernando was seriously injured, particularly his back.  Hernando spent a full nine days in the hospital.  While in the hospital, Hernando’s doctor prescribed Norco, a painkiller, to help alleviate Hernando’s excruciating back pain.

Norco is a brand name for a drug called Hydrocodone.  Hydrocodone is in a category of drugs called opiods.  “Opiods” are derived from the opium poppy plant and work in the brain to relieve pain.  Opiods are highly addictive drugs but the federal government has approved them for legal sale with a doctor’s prescription.

Hernando continued to experience terrible and constant back pain from the accident after he left the hospital.  His doctor directed Hernando to physical therapy but the therapy did helped only somewhat.  Hernandos doctor told Hernando that he would likely experience intense pain for awhile but, with luck, his pain should naturally diminish over time.  Knowing Norcos addictive qualities, the doctor refused Hernandos request for a prescription.

Approximately 2 months after being discharged from the hospital, Hernando could not stand the pain any longer.  He visited a fully licensed medical facility called L.A. Pain Management.  A licensed doctor at L.A. Pain Management gave Hernando a prescription for Norco that Hernando filled at the nearby Hollywood Pharmacy.  The pharmacist at Hollywood Pharmacy, Janice Paloni, suspected that L.A. Pain Management was a pill mill which gave painkiller prescriptions to practically anyone who asked.  She had filled a great many opiod prescriptions written by doctors at L.A. Pain Management for her customers.  Nevertheless, Janice filled Hernandos prescription for Norco after deciding the prescription was legally valid and not wanting to question Hernando’s doctor’s judgment.  Hernando appeared to be in some pain but otherwise acted normally and like any other customer. 

After only two weeks, Hernando returned to Hollywood Pharmacy with another valid Norco prescription from L.A. Pain Management.  Janice filled the prescription again.  This routine continued for many, many months.  Each time, Hernando would present Janice with a Norco prescription, Janice would confirm its validity, and Hernando would leave with the prescribed number of pills in the prescribed dose.  As time went on, Janice noticed that the number of pills Hernando was being prescribed was increasing as was the strength of each pill.  Janice concluded that Hernando was taking a large dose of Norco but, again, the prescriptions were always signed by a licensed doctor.

Over the following 18 months, Hernando became quickly addicted to Norco.  The effect of the addiction on Hernando’s life was awful.  His entire personality began changing.  Instead of being an athletic and curious young adult, Hernando became angry and isolated from others.  He lost his job as a waiter at a restaurant after routinely skipping shifts and, therefore, started shoplifting regularly to pay for his drugs.  He began buying street drugs and took those in addition to his prescribed Norco.  He started lying to his family about his whereabouts and staying out of his house all night long.  When he graduated from high school, Hernando had intended to attend U.C. Irvine to study engineering but never bothered to apply.  At one point, he was arrested for throwing his girlfriend on the ground during a fight at a local bar.  Hernandos old friends stopped calling him and even became afraid of him because of his unpredictable behavior.

As Hernandos addiction worsened, he would still regularly visit Hollywood Pharmacy to fill his Norco prescriptions.  Janice noticed that, since Hernandos first visit to the pharmacy, his physical appearance had changed dramatically.  Once athletic and good-looking, Hernando had become emaciated and had scabs all over his cheeks.  Although Hernando still spoke with Janice, he was no longer friendly and engaging.  Rather, he acted distant and strange.  At one point, Hernando screamed at Janice for allegedly giving him fewer pills than he had been prescribed (even though that was not true).  He started using profanity regularly and generally looked “out of it.”

One night, Hernando overdosed on Norco.  His family found him on the family sofa one morning entirely non-responsive.  Hernando was rushed to the hospital and nearly died from a slow heartbeat and low blood pressure.  Although Hernando did not die over his opioid overdose, he did suffer permanent damage to his heart and other physical and mental symptoms as a consequence of his addiction.

Hernando filed a lawsuit against Hollywood Pharmacy.  Hernando claims that Hollywood Pharmacy acted negligently by continuing to fill his Norco prescriptions over such a long period of time and that this negligence caused Hernando to suffer hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial damages (past and future medical bills, past and future lost income, and other long-term financial loss).  Hollywood Pharmacy has asked that you the Judge – dismiss Hernandos lawsuit based on the alleged absence of proximate causation.”  Hollywood Pharmacy argues that, although it filled Hernando’s prescriptions, it did not “proximately cause” Hernandos damages.  Hollywood Pharmacy argues that Hernandos decision to ingest the Norco pills was the only legal cause of his injuries. 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Hollywood Pharmacy has asked that you, as the Judge, dismiss Hernandos lawsuit.  Hollywood Pharmacy argues that, applying California law, the pharmacy’s action was not the proximate cause of Hernandos injury because, after the pills were given to Hernando, Hernando himself decided to ingest the pills.  You must decide whether to allow Hernandos lawsuit to proceed to the jury.

As a California Judge, you are required to apply California law as explained by the California Supreme Court.  The general California law that you must apply is the following:

A plaintiff alleging negligence must prove the following elements: (1) Defendants Duty of Care, (2) Defendants Breach of the Duty, (3) Causation, and (4) Damages.  The third element Causation has two parts: (1) Cause-in-Fact and (2) Proximate Cause.  Cause-in-fact asks whether the defendants conduct caused the plaintiffs injury; thus, if the plaintiffs injury would not have occurred but-for the defendants conduct, then the defendants conduct is a cause in fact of the plaintiffs injury.  “Proximate” causation, on the other hand, addresses how far to extend a defendants responsibility, when despite being the cause-in-fact of the plaintiffs injury, the defendants actions are either too remote or other policy considerations suggest cutting off liability.  For proximate cause to exist, some injury, if not the precise one in question, must have been reasonably foreseeable.  However, an injured partys own reckless and extraordinary conduct can constitute a superseding event which eliminate any proximate cause between the defendants conduct and the injury.  To qualify as the type of superseding event sufficient to eliminate proximate cause, the plaintiffs conduct must be so obviously dangerous that its very nature evidences a disregard for the actors own personal safety or well-being.

Unfortunately, no California case has ever addressed whether a pharmacy may be liable for negligence when a plaintiff overdoses on prescription pills that the pharmacy sold.  Therefore, you must read and analyze two cases from other states Scott vs .Greenville PharmacyPreview the document and Johnson vs. PrimmPreview the document – and answer the following questions.

1Q: With regard to Scott v. Greenville Preview the document, please (a) explain (in your own words) the law that the court used to reach its conclusion and (b) describe the key facts that the court used to reach its conclusion. (Do not simply re-type large excerpts from the courts decision.  You may use short quotations but you should primarily discuss the courts decision using your own words.)

2Q: With regard to Johnson vs PrimmPreview the document, please (a) explain (in your own words) the law that the court used to reach its conclusion and (b) describe the key facts that the court used to reach its conclusion. (Do not simply re-type large excerpts from the courts decision.  You may use short quotations but you should primarily discuss the courts decision using your own words.)

3Q: Using Californias law of proximate causation, and relying on the cases of Scott vs Greenville PharmacyPreview the document and Johnson vs PrimmPreview the document for guidance (even though you’re not required to follow them because they were decided by judges in different states), please explain whether the law requires that you dismiss Hernandos lawsuit against Hollywood Pharmacy or, alternatively, whether you will allow Hernandos lawsuit to be decided by a jury. (You must fully explain the details of the logic you use to reach your conclusion.  This question does not call for your opinion about what youd like to happen but, instead, what the law requires.  Make sure to discuss the specific aspects of the law that youre using to and how specific facts in the Saucedo v Hollywood Pharmacy lawsuit support your thinking.  Do not write to me, the professor, but rather assume that the person reading your answer has no prior knowledge of the facts of the case or the law.  Do not simply reach a conclusion without explaining it.  The purpose of this question is to clearly explain your logic in detail.  All conclusions must be based on a logical explanation that youve sufficiently explained).

4Q: Please discuss your thoughts and opinions regarding whether allowing an injured party to hold a pharmacy legally responsible for injuries caused by overdoses of prescribed medication would benefit or harm our society? Under what circumstances should pharmacies be legally responsible, if ever, and why do you feel that way?  (Im asking you to conduct a public policy analysis in which you must consider what you believe the law should be rather than what the law it is.  You should think critically about pros and cons).

ASSIGNMENT RULES

Doing well on this assignment requires that you follow these assignment rules carefully.  I recommend that you read the facts of the case youre deciding (Saucedo vs Hollywood Pharmacy Corporation), the State of Californias general law of proximate causation, the two precedents (ScottPreview the document and JohnsonPreview the document), very slowly and carefully so that you completely understand them.  You should also re-read Chapter 4 (regarding demurrers and summary judgment) and Chapter 5 (regarding proximate cause) to help you better understand ScottPreview the document and JohnsonPreview the document.

1. You must respond separately to each of the questions above. You must number each of your responses to correspond to each numbered question.  Please follow this SAMPLE FORMATPreview the document.

2. You must use college-level English in your writing. Thus, your paper cannot contain spelling, punctuation, style, or grammar errors.  You must appropriately use paragraphs.  Spelling, punctuation, style, and grammar will constitute a significant percentage of your score so please focus on those issues when writing.  You should proofread your responses at least three times.  I recommend reading your responses aloud.  Ears will often identify errors that eyes miss.  I also recommend asking a friend, family member, or fellow student to proofread your paper.  Finally, please use your word processing softwares spelling and grammar correction features.  Technology has eliminated excuses for spelling mistakes.

3. You must use 12-point font.

4. Your paper margins be 1-inch all around.

5. Your paper must be double-spaced.

6. Your paper must be at least three full and complete pages but cannot exceed four pages. Papers outside this page range however slight – will lose 25% so please pay close attention to length.  Do not lengthen your paper through inappropriate indentation, irrelevant headings, or needless white space.  I will consider such inappropriate indentation and spacing when determining page-length compliance.

7. You may not perform any research for this assignment. The internet will not help and, furthermore, I can easily spot a cut and paste job.

8. You must write your own Do not co-write your paper with another student.  I will read each paper personally and will require a detailed explanation if I read papers that appear to be duplicative (or curiously similar).  You may, however, discuss the assignment with other students and work together on proofreading.

9. When discussing the two court decisions, you may include short quotations of important language. However, the paper should mainly include your own  Please do not quote excessively.  When quoting language from the two court decisions, you must use quotation marks.  You should name the court opinion from which you quote but you need not use any special citation method.
Rubric
Writing Assignment Rubric

 

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