Resources
Pesticide Manufacturers May Be Liable for Inadequate
Warnings.
For the last decade, courts across the country –
including the Washington Supreme Court – have thwarted
the efforts of farmers, and others, to hold pesticide
makers liable for damages resulting from inadequate
warnings or instructions on the pesticide labels. In
2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that may
lead to a dramatic shift permitting such claims. The
Gillett Law Firm examines the case, Bates v. Dow
AgroSciences LLC, in the Case Analysis:
Court Orders Border Opened to Import of Canadian
Cattle.
In May 2003, in response to the discovery of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (commonly called “mad cow
disease) in Canadian cattle, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) ordered the border closed to the
importation of Canadian cattle. After concluding that
adequate measures were in place to protect the domestic
cattle supply, the USDA issued a rule to re-open the
border in early 2005. The Ranchers Cattlemen Action
Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF)
brought a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Montana
to prevent implementation of the USDA rule. In March,
the district court issued a preliminary injunction to
keep the border closed. Acting with great speed, four
months later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
reversed the district court, permitting the border to
reopen. The Gillett Law Firm filed an amicus curiae
brief with the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a major
Washington feeder.
