Duncan v. Afton, Inc.

Solvay Minerals (Solvay) contracted with Afton, Inc. (defendant) to collect urine specimens of Solvay’s employees for drug-and-alcohol testing. Harvey Duncan (plaintiff) was a Solvay employee randomly selected for testing. Leigh Ann Shears (defendant), an Afton employee, supervised the collection of Duncan’s specimens. Solvay received a report indicating that Duncan’s specimen had a .32 urine alcohol content. Solvay terminated Duncan’s employment based on the report. Duncan sued Afton and Shears for negligence and negligent misrepresentation, alleging that Afton negligently trained and instructed Shears, failed to employ proper collection and handling procedures, failed to inform Solvay that urinalysis was unreliable if specific procedures were not performed, and misrepresented to Solvay the accuracy and reliability of urine alcohol testing. Duncan alleged that if the result had been accurate, Duncan would have been visibly intoxicated and too intoxicated to function. Duncan maintained that Shears left Duncan’s specimen unsealed, failed to note the specimen’s temperature, and altered chain-of-custody documents, and that these collection errors and the process’s unreliability caused the inaccurate result. Refusing to hold that a collecting company owes a duty of reasonable care to a third party with whom it has not contracted, the trial court dismissed Duncan’s complaint. Duncan appealed.