Do you have a case if you’ve lost employment due to a mixed up/inaccurate drug test?

Get Legal Help Today

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption

Do you have a case if you’ve lost employment due to a mixed up/inaccurate drug test?

My wife is a surrogate and has been in a program for about 6 months now. We’ve gone through tons of paperwork, meetings and counseling sessions with the expecting couple (in which we drove hours for each meeting) and medical testing, birth control etc. Then 2 weeks ago she had her drug test which came back positive for opiates. We’re in shock. We have kids and live a clean life; we don’t smoke drink anything. The couple now wants to drop us and even though they say they believe us the surrogacy company doesn’t want to pay for re-testing. My wife states they never wrote her name on the sample after she sat it on the counter.

Asked on February 14, 2013 under Malpractice Law, Texas

Answers:

S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

Your wife could sue the drug testing company for negligence.  Negligence is the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that a reasonable drug testing company would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm). 

To prove negligence, your wife will need to prove duty (of due care mentioned above), breach of duty (failure to exercise due care), actual cause, proximate cause, and damages.

Actual cause means but for the drug test not being performed properly, would the test have been positive?  If the answer is no, actual cause has been established.

Proximate cause means are there any unforeseeable, intervening events which would relieve the drug testing company of liability?  If the answer is no, proximate cause has been established.

Damages means the amount of compensation your wife is seeking in her lawsuit for negligence against the drug testing company.  Her damages would be lost income as a surrogate.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

Get Legal Help Today

Find the right lawyer for your legal issue.

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption