Opinion ID: 2382536
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Agent Orange Formulation

Text: American service personnel exposed to herbicides including dioxin (Agent Orange) during defoliation of the jungles of Vietnam brought suit against the chemical manufacturers which had supplied the herbicides under contract to the United States, seeking recovery for personal injuries on theories including strict products liability for defective design and failure to warn of the hazards of exposure to the chemicals. In re Agent Orange Product Liability Litigation, 506 F.Supp. 762 (E.D.N.Y. 1980), rev'd, 635 F.2d 987 (2d Cir. 1980), 534 F.Supp. 1046 (E.D.N.Y. 1982), ( Agent Orange I ), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1067, 104 S.Ct. 1417, 79 L.Ed.2d 743 (1984). The Agent Orange plaintiffs contended that the chemical companies possessed knowledge superior to the government's about the toxic properties of dioxin, and that, therefore, the companies should be liable for failure to warn of the hazards and should not be protected by the government contract defense, despite careful manufacture to specifications. Judge Pratt formulated the government contract defense in light of this claim, as follows: A supplier . . . has a duty to warn the military of known risks attendant to a particular weapon that it supplies, so as to provide the military with at least an opportunity fairly to balance the weapon's risks and benefits. . . . [T]he court . . . concludes that a defendant in this case will be entitled to judgment dismissing all claims against it based on that defendant's having supplied Agent Orange to the government pursuant to a contract, if the defendant proves: (1) That the government established the specifications for Agent Orange; (2) That the Agent Orange manufactured by the defendant met the government's specifications in all material respects; and (3) That the government knew as much or more than the defendant about the hazards to people that accompanied the use of Agent Orange. [1] Agent Orange, 534 F.Supp. at 1055.