Business Law Today 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 3

Spotlight on Drug Testing-Third Party Beneficiaries.
Bath Iron Works (BIW) offered a job to Thomas Devine, contingent on Devine's passing a drug test. The testing was conducted by NorDx, a subcontractor of Roche Biomendical Laboratories. When NorDx found that Devine's urinalysis showed the presence of opiates, a result confirmed by Roche, BIW refused to offer Devine permanent employment. Devine sued Roche, claiming that the ingestion of poppy seeds can lead to a positive result and that he tested positive for opiates only because of his daily consumption of poppy seed muffins. Devine argued that he was a third party beneficiary of the contract between his employer (BIW) and NorDx (Roche). Is Devine an intended third party beneficiary of the BIW-NorDx contract? Why or why not? Do drug-testing labs have a duty to the employees to exercise reasonable care in conducting the tests? Explain. [Devine v. Roche Biomedical Laboratories, 659 A.2d 868 (Me. 1995)]