Nagata v. Quest Diagnostics Inc.

303 F.Supp. 2d 1121 (2004)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

P provided a urine sample to his employer, Garden Isle Telecommunications ('Garden Isle') for employee drug-testing. D tested the sample and reported that the sample was inconsistent with human urine. Garden Isle terminated P from his job on January 25, 1999, ten days after the sample had been provided. P requested that his urine sample be retested. P was informed that under Department of Transportation ('DOT') regulations, P's sample could not be retested. On January 10, 2001, D eventually revealed that it 'did not measure the creatinine concentration of specimens to at least one decimal place' between January 4, 1999, and February 2, 1999. That meant that D did not know whether P's urine sample actually met the Department of Health and Human Services' criteria for determining whether a specimen was substituted. D canceled P's test, and Garden was informed. P was notified by mail of D's error and was offered his job back. On May 7, 2002, P initiated the instant action, and on June 5, 2003, the court dismissed all of {'s claims, except for his claim of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED). The court found that the IIED claim arose out of D's alleged intentional withholding of information from P from when it found out about the error in February of 1999 until it revealed the error on January 10, 2001. Thus, P's IIED claim did not begin to run until January 25, 2001, and was not barred by the statute of limitations. D moved for summary judgment. D argues that P cannot meet his burden of establishing one or more essential elements of his claim for IIED.