The wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Aaron Carter’s toddler son over the singer’s drug-linked drowning three years ago is proceeding to trial after a wave of legal challenges.
In a series of rulings that culminated in a final order made public today, a Los Angeles County judge found that Cater’s sole heir, Princeton Lyric Carter, has a right to a jury trial over claims that two doctors and two pharmacies “overprescribed” and supplied the late pop star with “excessively high and unreasonably frequent amounts” of Xanax before his death. But in a loss for the former teen idol’s 3-year-old son, Princeton has no right to seek so-called survival action damages, the judge ruled.
Survival action damages are damages related to the medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering incurred by someone before their death. Judge Daniel L. Alexander found that only the personal administrator for Carter’s estate could seek those pre-death damages. In this case, administrator Aileen Federizo, a professional fiduciary, chose not to file a lawsuit on behalf of the estate.
The judge’s rulings mean the surviving lawsuit now is limited to determining whether the defendants should be held liable for Princeton’s personal damages, including loss of financial support, loss of companionship, and funeral expenses. A trial in the case is set for June 5, 2026.
In their 2023 lawsuit, Princeton and his lawyers alleged the defendants negligently prescribed and supplied large quantities of Xanax, Hydrocodone, and Oxycodone to Carter without checking the drug prescription monitoring database that would have alerted them that Carter was receiving the same controlled substances from other sources. Princeton’s lawyers alleged Walgreens and another pharmacy named MVP “repeatedly filled and re-filled” competing prescriptions for Xanax written by Carter’s psychiatrist, Dr. John Faber, and his dentist, Dr. Jason Mirabile, in the five months leading up to the musician’s death on Nov. 5, 2022. They said Walgreens dispensed 60 tablets on Oct. 12, 2022, while MVP dispensed 30 tablets on Oct. 25, 2022.
In his final summary judgment ruling signed Thursday, the judge denied a dismissal request from Walgreens that Dr. Faber had joined. In a ruling on Sept. 19, the judge denied a similar dismissal request from defendant MVP Compounds, finding that there was a genuine dispute over whether the pharmacy met the “standard of care” in filling prescriptions. Dr. Mirabile’s motion for summary judgment was denied in July.
Carter, the younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, was found dead in his bathtub by a housekeeper. According to his autopsy report, Carter “became incapacitated while in the bathtub due to the effects of inhaling compressed gas and taking alprazolam [Xanax]. This resulted in him becoming submerged under the water, unable to breathe, and ultimately led to his death.”
The autopsy report said the difluoroethane gas found in Carter’s system is commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners used on electronic devices. It said the gas “can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled.” It noted Xanax is a benzodiazepine that “has depressant effects on the central nervous system, which can cause drowsiness and sedation.”
The coroner investigator’s report noted that investigators found multiple canisters of computer cleaner in Carter’s bedroom and bathroom at his home in Lancaster, California.
At an Aug. 28 hearing seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, a lawyer for Walgreens argued that a review of Carter’s autopsy showed that the Xanax detected in the singer’s system was at a “therapeutic” level. He said that failed to meet the legal standard for “causation” of the singer’s death.
“He did not suffer an overdose as a result of the Xanax. He did not drown because of the Xanax. The amount of Xanax in his system was not sufficient to cause him to lose consciousness. And there’s no dispute that Mr. Carter passed away because he drowned, as opposed to due to a medical emergency,” Michael Miretsky, the lawyer for Walgreens, argued.
“Mr. Carter died because he was huffing,” the lawyer claimed. “It had nothing to do with a properly prescribed and dispensed medication.” The lawyer added that the Walgreens pharmacist who dispensed Xanax to Carter in August, September, and October of 2022, said in a sworn declaration that she checked the prescription monitoring database and also spoke directly with Dr. Faber to confirm the prescription. “She consulted [the database] on every occasion when Xanax was dispensed,” he said.
In court filings, Walgreens also noted that investigators recovered a bottle of Xanax from the scene of Cater’s death that had been prescribed to somebody else.
Joining the motion for summary judgment filed by Walgreens, Dr. Faber said that his own expert who also reviewed the autopsy report determined that the amount of Xanax in Carter’s system was “within the therapeutic range,” while his inhalation of difluoroethane “was sufficient to cause central nervous system depression and drowning.”
In his separate summary judgment motion, Dr. Mirabile argued that Carter sought treatment for severe tooth decay and fractured veneers and eventually proceeded with a “full mouth reconstruction.” The dentist said Carter complained of anxiety and sensitivity at his final appointment on Oct. 23, 2022, and the prescriptions written for him then were reasonable to alleviate those symptoms.
Judge Alexander denied Dr. Mirabile’s effort to exit the case after Princeton’s lawyers submitted expert testimony claiming the doctor breached the governing standards of care in numerous ways. Princeton’s dental expert, Dr. George C. Georgaklis, found that Dr. Mirabile “went beyond what a reasonably competent dentist would have prescribed given the totality of the circumstances.” The expert said Dr. Mirabile prescribed Xanax and Norco to Carter at 13 of his 15 visits, including after a routine cleaning in September 2022.
But the judge granted summary adjudication for Dr. Mirabile on the issue of survival damages, setting the stage for the similar rulings for the other defendants. “This Court agrees with Defendant that no legal authority supports the proposition that a successor may override a personal representative’s inaction without court intervention,” the judge wrote in his July 31 ruling. “The applicable statutory framework does not authorize a successor to assert a survival claim where a personal representative exists, even if that representative declines to sue.”
Lawyers on both sides did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
