Opinion ID: 1187866
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Blood testing in paternity cases

Text: ¶ 23 We believe the burdens of consecutive or multiple litigation have been considerably lessened by scientific developments since Bill was decided. Arizona has adopted the following presumption: If the results of the blood tests indicate that the likelihood of the alleged father's paternity is ninety-five per cent or greater, the alleged father is presumed to be the parent of the child and the party opposing the establishment of the alleged father's paternity shall establish by clear and convincing evidence that the alleged father is not the father of the child. A.R.S. § 25-807(D). ¶ 24 Blood tests carry great weight in paternity determinations because the results do not depend upon a party's testimony and because the tests are verifiable. Gilmore, supra, 86 ILL. B.J. at 477. Before the use of blood tests, juries were often left to determine paternity by resolving the conflicting testimony of adverse witnesses, considering marital status of the parents, and examining the physical likeness of the defendant and the child. See Ronald J. Richards, Comment, DNA Fingerprinting and Paternity Testing, 22 U.C. DAVIS L.REV. 609, 611 n. 6 (1989). When blood tests were first used, the results placed the child and the father into certain categories based on blood characteristics. While the result could exclude the possibility that a particular man was the child's father, it could not affirmatively establish a single man as a father but could only narrow the class of potential fathers to those who shared the same blood characteristics. Id. at 612. A newer blood test, human leukocyte antigen tissue typing (HLA testing), identifies more specific blood characteristics and can establish parentage to ninety-eight percent probability. Id. at 612-13 n. 11. Modern DNA fingerprinting boasts even greater accuracy; by mapping the DNA of the mother and the child, the test comes closer than any other in positively identifying a child's father. Id. at 613, 620-24, & 627-28 n. 56. ¶ 25 The availability and accuracy of today's blood testing and the statutory presumption created by § 25-807(D) will forestall the filing of many paternity cases and dispose of many others by summary judgment. Thus, even if a man's paternity is relitigated for the benefit of the child, chances are the claim will often be quickly resolved by testing rather than by long, harassing litigation. ¶ 26 Balancing the factors discussed, we conclude that the rule adopted in Hall is best. We disapprove of Bill 's analysis and reject the view that a child is in privity with either the state or its mother in the context of a paternity action. In the future, a child not joined to a paternity action will not be precluded by its disposition. Thus, like Stanley, such a child may bring his or her own subsequent action to establish paternity. We believe this rule will vindicate the rights and interests of children without unduly burdening putative fathers with harassing, repetitive actions.