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Two California women say the companies behind SCRAM’s alcohol monitoring system fraudulently generate false positives to increase their revenue.
Plaintiffs Roseanne Hansen and Jennifer Oh say the transdermal alcohol consumption monitoring devices made by defendants SCRAM of California Inc. and Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc. have been reporting false positive test results.
False positives can result in offenders being sent back to jail, having their bond revoked, or being ordered to continue wearing the SCRAM bracelet, the plaintiffs claim. They accuse SCRAM and AMS of generating false positives so that courts will order extended monitoring – resulting in more business income for SCRAM and AMS.
These SCRAM devices come in the form of ankle bracelets. In criminal prosecutions for offenses such as drunk driving, courts sometimes order individuals to wear such monitoring devices to monitor their consumption of alcohol.
The devices are manufactured by defendant Alcohol Monitoring Systems. SCRAM of California distributes these devices and provides associated monitoring services. Wearers are required to wear the ankle bracelet constantly.
Once a day, the wearer must upload device information to a monitoring center in Colorado, operated by AMS. When AMS receives a positive result from a SCRAM device, it reports that result to the court overseeing the customer’s prosecution.
But according to Hansen and Oh, these SCRAM devices are inherently prone to reporting false positives due to the nature of transdermal alcohol monitoring.
They claim that even when the wearer has consumed no alcohol, these devices are likely to detect and report environmental alcohol as a false positive. Fragrances, hand sanitizer, cleaning products or gasoline all can trigger a false positive from a SCRAM device, the plaintiffs claim.
Despite the alleged defect, the defendants advertise their SCRAM monitors as being able to detect the difference between “ingested alcohol” and environmental alcohol. Hansen and Oh argue that representation is false and misleading.
In fact, they say “numerous sources have documented instances of false-positive test results recorded by the SCRAM Device when the wearer was proven to have not consumed any alcohol.”
They cite a case in which a criminal defendant’s SCRAM device reported he had consumed alcohol for 63 hours straight and maintained the same blood alcohol level the entire time. Other reports showed a SCRAM device signaling a positive result at the same time a breath-alcohol test detected no alcohol at all.
Hansen claims her SCRAM device generated a false positive result while she was undergoing treatment at a alcohol rehabilitation center, where she could not and did not have access to alcohol. Breathalyzer testing conducted just before and after the SCRAM report showed she had not been drinking at all, Hansen claims.
Oh says her SCRAM system flagged a false positive after she complained about the high fees she was required to pay for the service – $225 per week plus a $325 enrollment fee.
Hansen and Oh are proposing to represent a nationwide plaintiff Class that would cover all persons in the U.S. who purchased the defendant’s SCRAM monitoring service from four years preceding the filing of this action through the date Class certification is granted. They also propose a subclass consisting of Class Members in California.
They are asking the court for an award of damages, restitution, court costs and attorney’s fees.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorney Edwin I. Aimufua of Law Offices of Edwin I. Amufua.
The SCRAM Ankle Bracelet False Positive Class Action Lawsuit is Roseanne Hansen, et al. v. SCRAM of California Inc., et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-01474, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: The SCRAM Ankle Bracelet False Positive Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed on September 26, 2017. Top Class Actions will let viewers know if a new case is filed.
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154 thoughts onAlcohol Monitoring System Generates False Positives, Class Action Says
I was ordered to wear the scram and am awaiting pretrial. The other day I went to have it read and they said I had detected alcohol on 11-26-2019 from 2pm to 3am. I absolutely have not drank since I started wearing this piece of junk, regardless the lady said she was going to send in the report and the results supposedly said that I had consumed alcohol, when I didn’t. So now I have to go to court and need to explain to the judge how I got alcohol in my system. This scram is a scam to make money and how can I defend myself against this. I so frustrated.
I am being accused of drinking on the SCRAM hand held breathalyzer and may face jail time. I woke up one morning violently ill. I was vomiting uncontrollably, yet still had to blow in to the device during this vomiting episode. I went to the ER and was admitted for two days in to the hospital. I contacted the monitoring service from the ER that morning. I submitted paperwork showing my ER visit, diagnosis and hospital stay. I DID NOT DRINK. Is there another class action lawsuit involving the breathalyzer?
My scram bracket is stating that I drank all day long this past Sunday starting at 10:30am till 11pm. I did not even get out of bed until around 11:15am as I was up late the night before. I don’t understand how this is possible?? I was at a cafe for a couple hours on my laptop and then went to two different hour long meetings on Sunday, and it’s not possible to drink at any of these places. I’m not sure what to do, they are trying to revoke my bail but I won’t go down without a fight. I am getting lab tests done regardless as proof, even if they won’t be reconigsed by the court. I also want to have the ankle monitor tested and by a third party company, not the SCRAM makers themselves. I also looked up polygraph tests online and am considering taking one of those although they cost around $700. I believe these monitors are not effective and give off too many false positives that ruin lives.
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My sons birthday party was 12/8/18 , I held a party that yes contained alcohol for the adults. My scram bracelet went off at 5pm right when the party started and this alert continued until 11am 12/9/18. I had a violation because of this , for some reason is shows alcohol and I did not drink I have pictures and videos throughout the night of my sons birthday party if I drank for 18 hours straight I would’ve been overly Intoxicated as well at 11:26am , 26 minutes after the scram continued to alert alcohol I got in my car which has the breathalyzer, now correct me if I’m wrong if I drank 18 hours straight and got into my car 26 minutes later wouldn’t the breathalyzer catch that I was drinking. The scram bracelet is a scam , I was not drinking and I’m fighting this in court I had a three month contract of a Dwi enhanced monitoring program. I’m paying to have the report from the breathalyzer from the car. Also the report graph spikes up and down through this time and shows temperatures from 70 degrees to 106 degrees I do not understand. I’m upset , stressed but I know the truth and I hope that they get a a toxicologist and an expert like they said they would.
What was your outcome. Did the breathalyzer help you? I am having the same problem now
I going exactly through this now. The device is reporting that I have been drinking for 3 days straight due to the fact that I am a waitress at a gentlemans club. Im at court now about to speak to the judge and I am nervous of how he’s going to be, react, etc. If I ended up arrested, I’m considering sueing this company for many personal reasons inclunding not willing to voluntarily lose my house, and most importantmy have
I am in Florida. I finallized my case on 08/07/2018 and was violated on 8/8/18 or they say I got a consumed alcohol reading on the 08/09/2018 for a 0.03% leveling from 11:30pm to 4:00am. ( yes the dates are correct) I walked in Courthouse on 8/14/2018 I was told that something was wrong with the monitor so I went in to have it checked and was kepted on a VOP for 22day. But I did not have a drink. This is crazy and they saying there is nothing you can do to prove your innocence. That’s not right! Can someone refer me to a lawyer in Florida. I’m for sure a few of my rights have been violated??
Its unconstitutional for anything to be placed on your person until you are found guilty of a crime! That is what you should be suing for. We have a presumption of innocent til PROVEN guilty.
My son had a tampering /alcohol alert go off on his Scram ankle monitor. He was notified and had no defense against it. They told him to go into the correctional facility immediately… I was driving him to work when he received the call. They kept him in the facility believing that the Scram unit is 100 percent reliable… that’s what Scram has everyone believing. The courts, the parole officers, your elected officials. I know… I tried my hardest to alert everyone that my son was falsely accused. I wrote a letter to my representative, to the judge hearing his case, to his Parole officer. I contacted attorneys and asked for help. My son wrote letters and took the steps in filing an grievance which was outlined by a well known advocate group I contacted that helped people whose constitutional rights were denied. It appears Scram is too powerful. There has to be a way to make them accountable for all the lives they have damaged with this inconsistent device. If the parole officers would report all these tamper alerts to a nation wide data base indicating their client states they did not tamper you could see just how large the numbers are. My son suffers PTSD from having to stay in the correctional facility for almost a year because of SCRAM’s deficiencies. There are so many people out there that this has also happened too. If a device is going to be developed it needs to not cause permanent scarring to the leg, cause linfections to the leg due to sweat and bacteria build up and be 100 accurate with no grey areas ie, detecting socks that slide near it when sleeping and other factors the manufacturer of Scram states can set it off. Unfortunately 100 percent of the time the wearer has no clue what set off the defective ankle bracelet. I wish a large Class Action Lawsuit would somehow get them to admit its not 100 percent fool proof and the courts order Scram to re-evaluate their process. If it detects alcohol, a alcohol test should be given by the PO. If there is a tampering the PO should immediately go and investigate his client. There has to be physical evidence before you are immediately and wrongfully accused.
Have had this thing on for 96 days, It hasn’t been too bad although the first two weeks of me wearing it the lady who explained everything to me and installed it on my leg put it too loose so when I was sleeping at night it was not touching my leg, I was immediately called into court the following morning to explain the situation, They said I had tampered with the device and that it detected alcohol during the period of time it was not touching my ankle.. Which it was probably picking up my spouses sweat considering he had a few beers before bed that night but I had no alcohol in my system.. after going to the court they threatened to send me back to jail stating that maybe this program wasn’t for me and i just needed to go back to jail, I went straight to the SCRAM office after leaving the court to have them tighten it so this was never an issue again. Needless to say the lady who installed my machine and who was my case manager got fired a few weeks later for other reasons.. so apparently I wasn’t the only victim of hers.. IT REALLY ERKS ME THAT PEOPLE CAN JUST PLAY WITH YOUR FREEDOM LIKE THAT.. After switching case managers I had a few financial issues (IE my spouses wages getting garnished) so it was horrible timing although the ladies in the office didn’t care, asked me if I had anything to pawn, because after 7 days of being past due they were required to submit that to the court and then the court would decide if they would keep me on the program. I let them know the initial lady who set me up with everything explained as long as I kept in contact with them everything would be okay they stated that because she was no longer a part of the company they couldn’t speak on what SHE said. I advised them this would be a one time thing I would be able to pay for the entire two weeks the following week, they didn’t take that for an answer so I had to borrow money from my mom (HOW EMBARRASSING) she called them up to pay and they gave her my personal info? I’m sure they shouldn’t of done that even though she was paying for a week of mine.. WHATEVER. After I payed they called me the following week saying I was okay to pay after the 7 days..? I was so confused because just the PREVIOUS week they threatened to have me kicked off the program ect, But I guess someone was just having a bad day or wanted to have a little power trip!!! I cannot wait until I am done with this. I work in a Dr’s office and am exposed to a lot of environmental alcohol so I don’t find this effective AT ALL. I even offered to do urine or labs test daily and pay out of pocket because that seemed a little more effective, The judge didn’t like that I suggested a more accurate form of testing and basically told me it was either this program of go back to jail.. OBVIOUSLY I am going to choose this ineffective expensive machine, because who wants to go spend ANY time in that jail. SCRAM IS A SCAM!!!!!! Oh & READ your paperwork, the lady at the office copied and pasted my previous report which stated I tampered with the device and almost signed it.. she laughed and said “oh sorry I just copied and pasted from the last time” UM NO. Again you’re playing with my freedom and I cannot afford to have ANY form of typos. I would suggest just serving your time in jail, it will be a HELL of a lot easier than this stupid thing.
My bracelet went off falsely saying i removed it for three days and put back on and did not, almost went to jail! This delayed my case past me turning 35 which stopped me from re applying for my job with nypd. Also went an extra year with no car because of this delay!
SCRAM is a scam and they keep getting away with ruining innocent peoples lives with their faulty electronics!!!!
I completely agree! The board should have criminal charges against them
My SCRAM bracelet said that I went from a 0 to .18 in 30 minutes?! Then said I had alcohol in my system for 14 hours! So ridiculous! I was at my Kaiser CDRP thing for some of it and my roommate can attest that I had no alcohol at the time. I don’t want to lose my job by being put in jail because this thing malfunctioned. My court date is 6/21/18 and I’m genuinely afraid.
Daniel, what happened at your hearing??
I have been observing a disturbing trend with scram. I have no horse in this race and I have personally embarrassed them repeatedly. Here is what happened to you, your device malfunctioned spiking you hard and fast. Scram states that they filter results that exceed .05 per hour for your tac to increase . Otherwise it’s a false positive.
Here is the catch they don’t, they send them to court anyway and the defendant usually is poor and indigent so their public defenders don’t bother to learn how to read data. I am organizing a research project to prove this empirically. I need redacted violation work if anyone is interested let me know just type ttt and post it.
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