BALTIMORE (WMAR) — A Baltimore man is suing an Ohio based DNA center for over $75,000, alleging the company falsely identified him as the father of a young girl.
The lawsuit was filed in the Baltimore City Circuit Court and accuses DNA Diagnostics Center of negligent and fraudulent advertising.
According to the complaint, the child was born in 2018. In May the following year, Nnanaka Nwofor took a DNA Diagnostics Center home paternity test he bought from a local drug store.
Two days later, Nwofor received the results online, claiming he was the girl's biological father by a probability rate of 99.9999999995 percent.
A little over two months later, Nwofor's friend told him that the child's mother said another man could be the father.
Now feeling unsure of if he was the father or not, Nwofor went out and purchased a second DNA Diagnostics Center home kit.
A few days later the online test results came in, and this time determined Nwofor wasn't the father with a zero percent probability of paternity.
The second test also allegedly showed entirely different genetic markers than the first positive report.
After receiving two different results, Nwofor claims he went the next day to LabCorp to have a third paternity test.
According to that test, Nwofor was not the father.
In the lawsuit, Nwofor's attorney Charles H. Edwards cites advertising claims made by DNA Diagnostics Center, including “We are the only laboratory to run every test twice for 100% accuracy.”
As result of the false positive test, Edwards writes that Nwofor suffered mental and emotional pain and anguish along with lost wages.
Edwards blames the inaccurate positive test for solidifying and later breaking up a father-daughter bond.
According to its website, DNA Diagnostics Center has been used by several television shows including "Maury" which is repeatedly mentioned in the lawsuit.
The company hasn't released any statement in response to the allegations.
