General Obligations Law § 12-104 · Article 12. Drug Dealer Liability Act
Recovery by persons other than illegal drug users
Text — Law content up to date as of July 24, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 12-104. Recovery by persons other than illegal drug users. 1. One or more of the following persons may bring an action for and recover damages caused by use of an illegal drug by an individual:
(a) A parent, legal guardian, child, or spouse of an individual drug user;
(b) An employer of an individual drug user; and
(c) 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.
2. A person entitled to bring an action pursuant to subdivision one of this section may be awarded damages from a person who knowingly participated in the chain of distribution of an illegal drug actually used by the individual drug user.
3. A person knowingly participates in a drug market if:
(a) the place of the illegal drug use by the individual drug user is within a drug market target community of the defendant;
(b) the participation of the defendant in such drug market was connected with the same type of illegal drug used by the individual user; and
(c) the defendant participated in such drug market at any time during the illegal drug use by the individual user.
4. A person entitled to bring an action under this section may recover the following damages:
(a) Economic damages including, but not limited to, the cost of treatment and rehabilitation, medical expenses, loss of economic potential, loss of productivity, and support expenses;
(b) Non-economic damages, including, but not limited to, physical and emotional pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of companionship and consortium;
(c) Reasonable attorney fees;
(d) Reasonable expert consultant and expert witness fees; and
(e) Costs and disbursements as provided for in the civil practice law and rules.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of July 24, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/GOB12-104
- Text hash
- sha256 69ee0e7e765720ff5bccc5cb382727c5ab3191d6764a1a2e1e902cf2cc6a0c6e
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.