ELR Citation: ELR 20766
No(s). 3-93-486 (D. Minn. Dec 27, 1993)

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a farming partnership's negligent mislabeling claim against a pesticide manufacturer. The partnership alleged that it suffered damages from diminished sugar beet yields after it applied a pesticide manufactured by defendant according to instructions on the pesticide's label. The partnership further alleged that the label stated that rotational crops could be planted on land treated with the pesticide 18 months after application. The manufacturer later changed the label to state that at least 26 months should elapse between application and planting rotational crops. The court first holds that the record is insufficient to allow the court to make the factual determinations necessary to address the manufacturer's argument that the partnership's claim is barred by state law preventing plaintiffs such as the partnership from recovering economic losses arising from commercial transactions with farm chemical producers pursuant to tort theories of recovery. Relying on decisions by federal circuit courts, the court next holds that FIFRA expressly preempts the partnership's labeling-based negligence claim.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Stephen L. Stennes
Prindle, Maland, Sellner, Stennes & Knutsen
102 Parkway Dr., P.O. Box 591, Montevideo MN 56265
(612) 269-6491

Counsel for Defendant
John P. Mandler
Faegre & Benson
2200 Norwest Ctr., 90 S. 7th St., Minneapolis MN 55402
(612) 336-3000