Opinion ID: 2111141
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claims concerning false advertising.

Text: In his brief and during oral argument, plaintiff's counsel asserted that defendant falsely advertised that Pursuit would control tall waterhemp. Counsel thus argued that plaintiff's claim really was based on false advertising, rather than a challenge to the information listed on the Pursuit label, and thus is not preempted by FIFRA. We have never specifically examined whether claims based on false advertising are preempted by FIFRA. We did note in Ackerman, however, that a plaintiff's claim for negligence in marketing was a common-law-duty-to-warn and was clearly preempted by FIFRA. 586 N.W.2d at 214. Some courts, however, have recognized that a false advertising claim may survive preemption under FIFRA when statements in a manufacturer's advertising substantially differ from claims made as part of the statement required in connection with the product's registration with the EPA. See Lowe v. Sporicidin Int'l, 47 F.3d 124, 130 (4th Cir.1995) (citing 7 U.S.C. § 136j(a)(1)(B)) (noting that a State is not preempted from imposing common law liability on a defendant if the defendant's advertisements made claims as part of its distribution of sale that substantially differ from claims made for it as part of the statement required in connection with its [the product's] registration). We need not decide whether plaintiff's false advertising claim as urged in this case is preempted under FIFRA. This is because plaintiff has no evidence in the record of any Pursuit advertisements that he relied upon in connection with the 1994 application of Pursuit to his fields. [4] Thus, the district court had no opportunity-and neither do we-to compare any alleged false statements in advertising that existed at the time of the 1994 application with information contained on the 1994 Pursuit label. In essence, plaintiff's claim is really a challenge that the Pursuit label incorrectly stated that it would control tall waterhemp. Such a claim is no different from that raised by the plaintiff in Schuver, 546 N.W.2d at 614-15, and is therefore preempted by FIFRA.