Shiepe v. Cal.State Bd. of Pharmacy
The California State Board of Pharmacy (Board) inspected the inventory of drugs at a pharmacy as part of an investigation into whether certain drugs were being counterfeited or diverted. The inspector discovered that a substantial amount of a particular drug, worth more than $1.4 million, was missing from the inventory. When asked about it, the pharmacist explained that he had taken the drug to his home for safekeeping while he upgraded the pharmacys security system to include a motion detector.
The Board initially fined the pharmacist and the pharmacy $5,000 each, contending that the transfer of the drug to the pharmacists home violated the Pharmacy Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, 4000 et seq.; all further section references are to the Business and Professions Code unless otherwise indicated.) Eventually, after an administrative appeal, the Board reduced each fine to $1,000. The pharmacist and the pharmacy (plaintiffs) filed a petition for a writ of administrative mandate in the trial court, contending they had not violated the Pharmacy Law and, even if they had, the $1,000 fines were excessive. The trial court denied the petition.
Court conclude that the Board correctly determined that plaintiffs violated the Pharmacy Law by transferring the drug to the pharmacists home and that the Board did not abuse its discretion in imposing the reduced fines.
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