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Farm Bureau Life Insurance Case Summary

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Issue:
Did Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, LabOne, and Dr. J. Alexander Lowden have a duty to inform Gary and Renna Pehle that they were HIV-positive?

Facts:
Husband and wife, Gary and Renna Pehle were infected with HIV at the time they applied for life insurance with Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company. The couple did not know they were infected with HIV at the time. The insurance company ran blood tests from the Pehles. The Pehles then signed a contract form which was given to them by a Farm Bureau agent. A nurse from Farm Bureau watched as the Pehles signed the contract. Blood samples were sent to a third-party laboratory called LabOne. Farm Bureau then sent a notice to the Pehles rejecting them from their life insurance policy, which advised the couple that if they wished to have their application reviewed to contact their physician. The Pehles did not take any action in doing so. Two years past and Renna Pehle is confirmed to have AIDS. The Pehles then sues Farm Bureau, LabOne, and LabOne’s medical director Dr. J. Alexander Lowden for negligence, for failing to tell them they were HIV-positive.

Analysis: …show more content…

LabOne is not a party of the Notice and consent agreement. According to case, Duncan v. Afton, Inc., 991 P.2d 739 (Wyo. 1999) the testing lab owed a duty of case to the employee (company who hires the 3rd party) who submits the samples not to the person who the samples come from.
In Worman v. Farmers, 4 F.Supp.2d 1052 (D.Wyo.1998) the courts ruled that a third party to a contract may not be liable for a breach of contract. In Pehle’s situation, LabOne is not a party to the Notice and Consent

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