Wigginton v. White

847 N.E.2d 646, 364 Ill. App. 3d 900, 301 Ill. Dec. 636, 24 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 970, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 221
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 24, 2006
Docket1-04-3822
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 847 N.E.2d 646 (Wigginton v. White) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wigginton v. White, 847 N.E.2d 646, 364 Ill. App. 3d 900, 301 Ill. Dec. 636, 24 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 970, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 221 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JUSTICE TULLY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant-appellant, Secretary of State Jesse White (Secretary), suspended the school bus driver’s permit of plaintiff-appellee, Lynnann Wigginton (Wigginton), for her alleged failure to obtain a negative drug test as required by Illinois Vehicle Code section 6 — 106.1(g)(5). 625 ILCS 5/6 — 106.1(g)(5) (West 2002). Wigginton requested a hearing before the Secretary to contest the suspension of her school bus driver’s permit. Following the hearing, the Secretary upheld the suspension and Wigginton filed a complaint for administrative review of that decision with the circuit court.

The circuit court reversed the Secretary, in essence holding that when Wigginton offered evidence that she did not use marijuana and that the federal regulations governing drug testing procedures were not followed, Wigginton made a prima facie case that the positive drug test was inaccurate and unreliable. Following Wigginton’s prima facie case calling into question the accuracy of the positive drug test, the Secretary failed to offer evidence confirming that the positive drug test result was reliable and accurate.

On appeal, the Secretary’s arguments can be summarized as follows: (1) during a hearing regarding the Secretary’s suspension of a petitioner’s school bus driver’s permit, the burden of proof should not shift from a petitioner to the Secretary once a petitioner establishes a prima facie case that the positive drug test was unreliable and inaccurate; (2) even if the burden of proof shifts to the Secretary once a petitioner establishes a prima facie case that the positive drug test was unreliable and inaccurate, the burden of proof did not shift to the Secretary in this case because Wigginton’s evidence that she did not use any marijuana, that the federal regulations for drug testing were not followed, and that her drug retest was negative for drugs did not establish a prima facie case that the results of the test were unreliable; and (3) the medical review officer’s failure to comply with the federal regulation requiring him to advise Wigginton of her right to request a split specimen test did not result in prejudice. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS

Wigginton was employed by Round Lake School District (the School District), where she had been a school bus driver for 12 years. Prior to her 12 years as a school bus driver for the School District, Wigginton was employed as a school bus driver by other employers for an additional 12 years. At the time of the incident at issue in this appeal, Wigginton was 48 years of age.

During the 24 years that she was employed as a school bus driver, Wigginton was subjected both to random drug tests and to annual physical examinations, at which additional drug tests were performed. Each of Wigginton’s previous drug tests proved negative, except for one drug test taken as part of a yearly exam in 1998 or 1999. That year, Wigginton and three other drivers were notified of a positive result and were instructed to take a retest because of a break in the chain of custody of the samples. Wigginton’s retest proved negative and, as a result, she retained her school bus driver’s permit and no action was taken against her.

On Friday, February 13, 2004, Wigginton and four other drivers took random drug tests ordered by the School District. On Friday, February 27, 2004, two weeks after the original drug test, Wigginton received a message on her home answering machine from the medical review officer (MRO) at the testing laboratory. The MRO’s message informed Wigginton that she had tested positive for marijuana. After receiving the MRO’s message, Wigginton immediately telephoned the MRO and advised him that she did not use marijuana and, therefore, she wished to appeal the MRO’s findings. During their telephone conversation, the MRO erroneously told Wigginton that the process of appealing a positive drug test was established by each employer. The MRO stated that he did not know the School District’s positive drug test appeal policy and instructed Wigginton to speak with the School District within the next 72 hours regarding the School District’s process of appealing a positive drug test.

Contrary to what the MRO told Wigginton, the process of challenging a positive drug test was controlled by federal regulations, which uniformly applied to all employers of school bus drivers. Specifically, the federal regulations, found in the Department of Transportation’s regulations (49 C.F.R. § 40.3 (2003)), state that when an employee like Wigginton provided a urine specimen for a drug test, the MRO was required to divide the urine specimen into two containers, one of which was to be the “primary specimen” and the other of which was to be the “split specimen.” 49 C.F.R. § 40.71(a) (2003). The federal regulations also state that when the MRO informed the employee that he or she had received a positive drug test, the MRO “must notify the employee of his or her right to have the split specimen tested” and the MRO “must inform the employee that he or she has 72 hours from the time [the MRO] provides the notification [of the positive test] to him or her to request a test of the split specimen.” 49 C.F.R. §§ 40.153(a), (b) (2003).

In compliance with the MRO’s instructions, on Sunday, February 29, 2004, Wigginton informed her supervisor both of the positive result and of the MRO’s instruction that she had 72 hours to appeal the MRO’s findings pursuant to the appeals process established by the School District. Wigginton’s supervisor instructed Wigginton to meet her the next morning for a drug retest at 9 a.m. at the Lake Forest Medical Center. Wiggington complied with the supervisor’s instructions and submitted another urine specimen on Monday, March 1, 2004. Within 24 hours of the retest, the MRO notified Wigginton that the retest results were negative for drugs.

Notwithstanding Wigginton’s drug retest on March 1, 2004, the results of which were negative for any drug use, on March 8, 2004, the Secretary issued an order of suspension of Wigginton’s school bus driver’s permit. The order of suspension stated that Wigginton’s school bus driver’s permit was suspended for three years because Wigginton was “no longer in compliance with the provisions of Section 6 — 106.1(g)(5) of the Illinois Vehicle Code.” 625 ILCS 5/6 — 106.1(g)(5) (West 2002).

Wigginton filed a timely request for an administrative hearing to contest the suspension of her school bus driver’s permit. In her request for an administrative hearing, Wigginton stated, inter alia, that she did not use marijuana and that the positive drug test was inaccurate.

A hearing was conducted before hearing officer Wayne Gardner on April 28, 2004. At the hearing, Wigginton testified that the positive drug test could not have been accurate because she does not use marijuana.

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Bluebook (online)
847 N.E.2d 646, 364 Ill. App. 3d 900, 301 Ill. Dec. 636, 24 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 970, 2006 Ill. App. LEXIS 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wigginton-v-white-illappct-2006.