State, Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services v. Opel

Petitioners seek certiorari review of an order granting respondent Jeffrey Opel’s request for a Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) test. We grant the petition.

In 1985 an Indiana court declared that Opel was the father of a child born to petitioner Carrie Doty, and set child support at $40.00 per week. Opel, who did not appear at any dispositive Indiana hearings and who now resides in Florida, has never paid anything. Upon service of Ms. Doty’s URESA petition, Opel demanded an HLA test. He contended that he “has been sterile for his entire life,” and also that the Indiana court never properly…