Pre-employment testing, service provider liability.

The various parties to a suit involving pre-employment testing appeal a lower court's ruling. Thomas Devine filed suit against his employer, The Bath Iron Works, and two laboratories retained to perform the company's drug testing program. Devine posted a positive result in a pre-employment drug screen. Devine argued the positive result was caused by the seeds in the poppy seed muffins he ate each morning. His filed suit against the company and the labs, alleging tort and contract.

The Superior Court of Cumberland County granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment. Prior to the court's ruling, Devine and the company settled their dispute. The company filed suit against the labs and the court allowed the labs to file a cross suit against the company. A series of appeals followed the lower court's ruling.

A split decision. The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed certain aspects of the lower jurisdiction's decision and vacated other points of the ruling. The case was remanded to the lower jurisdiction for additional review.