Jury Awards Monroe Man $2.5M Over Botched Paternity Test Result

MONROE, CT — A Monroe man was awarded $2.5 million in damages by a Bridgeport court, which ruled a botched DNA test deprived him of being a father to his baby girl.

A six-member Superior Court jury made the decision last week in favor of Joel Santiago, 34, against Ohio company DNA Diagnostics Center Inc.

Santiago retained the company, the defendant in the case, to determine whether the baby, Mackenzie, carried by his girlfriend was his. According to court documents, after analyzing blood samples from the couple, the defendant "concluded that there was a '0%' probability" Santiago was Mackenzie’s father.

As a result, Santiago broke off the relationship with his girlfriend. Mackenzie was born healthy in October 2015.

In February 2017, Santiago got a phone call from "an unidentified agent" of the diagnostics company who told him the company had reviewed the original test results and discovered an error. There was, in fact, a "99% probability" that Santiago was Mackenzie’s father.

The agent of the diagnostics company did not inform Santiago why his testing result was being reviewed, according to the court documents.

As a result, Santiago "lost his opportunity to see his baby girl born, or to bond with her in her earliest stages of development … lost the joys of the many firsts associated with parenthood, including seeing his daughter’s first steps, hearing her first words, and participating in her first birthday and holidays," according to the original complaint.

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