Yasuko Ishikawa v. Delta Airlines, Inc., a Georgia Corporation, and Labone, Inc., a Delaware Corporation

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge.

We decide whether an airlines employee has a state common law tort action against a negligent urine testing laboratory.

Facts

Yasuko Ishikawa, a Delta flight attendant, got fired for failing a drug-detection urine test. But the test was negligently performed, and the result had no validity whatsoever. Delta rehired her, and paid her the $68,920 of income she had lost. She sued LabOne, the urine test laboratory to which Delta had sent her urine, for negligence. The jury verdict establishes that LabOne negligently analyzed and reported her results, causing $68,000 of…