Man sued U.S. Embassy on bungled DNA test chains himself to gate

Santo Domingo.- Miguel Familia, the man who sued the U.S. Embassy on claims that results of a bungled DNA paternity test destroyed his family, chained himself to the embassy gate on Tuesday to "demand justice."

Familia, accompanied by two young girls, grabbed local headlines early October when he took his case to a National District 3rd Civil Court, on claims that the DNA test ruined his family life and broke up his marriage.

When Familia went with his wife Yessica Guerrero to the U.S. consulate in the Dominican Republic to get a residence for their youngest daughter, he would’ve never thought it would end up in divorce.

The consulate denied the residence to Alexis Ashley Familia in December 2005 after the DNA test conducted by the clinic Testing & Research said she wasn’t Miguel’s biological daughter.

Familia said he separated from his wife of seven years and then decided to retest his daughter’s DNA with the local lab chain Amadita, which contradicts the first, proving that he is in fact the biological father.

He said the paternity test’s erroneous results by a U.S. lab destroyed his family and years later, decided to sue the U.S. Consulate for US$100.0 million in damages to him and his family.