Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC
| Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC | |
|---|---|
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| Argued January 10, 2005 Decided April 27, 2005 |
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| Full case name | Dennis Bates, et al., Petitioners v. Dow Agrosciences LLC |
| Docket nos. | 03-388 |
| Citations | 544 U.S. 431 (more) |
| Prior history | Summary judgment for defendants, 436 F. Supp. 2d 132 (Me. 2006); reversed, 501 F.3d 29 (1st Cir. 2007); cert. granted, 552 U.S. ___ (2008) |
| Holding | |
| Federal law does not preempt the application of state law in insecticide labeling requirements. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, O’Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Concurrence | Breyer |
| Concur/dissent | Thomas, joined by Scalia |
| Laws applied | |
| 15 U.S.C. § 1334(b) (Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act); Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 5, § 207(Supp. 2008) (Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act) | |
Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431 (2005), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) did not preempt state law claims, brought by a group of Texas farmers, alleging that one of Dow's pesticides damaged their peanut crop.
A group of 29 peanut farmers in Texas alleged that that their peanut crops were severely damaged by Dow's "Strongarm" pesticide. After the farmers informed Dow that they intended to filed a lawsuit, Dow filed a request in federal district court for a declaratory judgment stating that a legal claim brought by the farmers would be preempted by FIFRA. The farmers then filed counterclaims against Dow, which alleged tort claims and violations of consumer protection laws. The district court granted Dow's motion for summary judgment and found that all but one of the farmers' claims were preempted by FIFRA. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling. In 2004, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split regarding the extent to which FIFRA preempts claims under state law.
In an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court held that the farmers' claims were not preempted by FIFRA. Justice Stevens wrote that "[n]othing in the text of FIFRA would prevent a State from making the violation of a federal labeling or packaging requirement a state offense, thereby imposing its own sanctions on pesticide manufacturers who violate federal law." Justice Stevens also distinguished the facts of this case from those in Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., noting that FIFRA "prohibits only state-law labeling and packaging requirements that are “in addition to or different from” the labeling and packaging requirements under FIFRA."
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