If the family of a man who died from an overdose on illegally obtained fentanyl is blocked from suing the pharmacy that sold the drug, a whole range of tort liability theories, including dram shop cases, may no longer be viable, an attorney argued to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on May 19.

“It would really turn every single solitary ruling on its head. There could never be a dram shop case,” attorney Michael Shaffer of Shaffer & Gaier argued to the justices in the case. ”If a plaintiff was speeding, then the plaintiff was illegally driving. Forget about it. … Our imaginations could go wild for every type of case that would really be contributory negligence.”