Does a pharmacy have a right to recover damages from the parents and close relatives of a plaintiff who died as a result of a prescription drug overdose?

The pharmacy's fear of an aggressive expansion of liability for NIED damages is unwarranted. The conditions upon which recovery could be allowed are self-limiting and reasonably fashioned to balance the competing factors. (Cf. Thing v. La Chusa, supra, 48 Cal.3d at p. 666, 257 Cal.Rptr. 865, 771 P.2d 814.)

Restriction of recovery to parents and close relatives is justified because, in common experience, it is more likely they will suffer a greater degree of emotional distress from negligently caused pain and suffering or death than others not so related. (Cf. Drew v. Drake (1980) 110 Cal.App.3d 555, 557, 168 Cal.Rptr. 65.)