Court Opinion

ID: 9486938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:04:23.919045+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:01.198214
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part, dissenting in the judgment.
The majority correctly decides that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenti-cide Act (“FIFRA”) preempts both positive enactments and common law claims which differ from or add to FIFRA’s labeling or packaging requirements. However, the majority fails to determine whether the specific common law claims raised in the case sub judice actually differ from or add to FI-FRA’s requirements. In this writer’s view, the failure to warn and failure to adequately label claims at issue here are entirely consistent with FIFRA. They are not preempted.
The Supreme Court in Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. made clear that a finding that a federal statute preempts common law actions in general is not tantamount to a finding that the statute preempts all common law actions. — U.S.-, -, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 2621, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992). Under the clear guidance of Cipollone, Courts must determine the scope of a statute’s preemption provision. Id. — U.S. at-, 112 S.Ct. at 2618. Any state law within the scope of the provision is preempted. However, “matters beyond that reach are not preempted.” Id. To properly review a preemption claim, therefore, Courts must “fairly but — in light of the strong presumption against preemption — narrowly construe the precise language of [the preemption provision] and ... look to each of [the] common law claims [raised] to determine whether [they are] in fact preempted.” Id. — U.S. at -, 112 S.Ct. at 2621.
The preemption provision at issue here, entitled “Authority of States,” provides the following:
(a) In general — A State may regulate the sale or use of any federally registered pesticide or device in the State, but only if and to the extent the regulation does not permit any sale or use prohibited by this subchapter.
(b) Uniformity — Such State shall not impose or continue in effect any requirement for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required under this subchapter.
7 U.S.C. § 136v(a)-(b). A fair, but narrow, reading of this preemption section quite readily reveals Congress’ intent to restrict the comparison of state law labeling requirements to the labeling requirements enunciated in the subchapter.
The subchapter makes illegal the sale or distribution of “any pesticide which is adulterated or misbranded.” Id. at § 136j (a)(1)(E). FIFRA broadly defines the term “misbranded.”1 Under section 136(q), a pesticide is misbranded if its “label does not contain a warning or caution statement which may be necessary and if complied with ... is adequate to protect health and the environment.”2 Id. at § 136(q)(l)(G).
*1027Consistent with FIFRA, the MacDonalds have claimed that the labels of the pesticides in question did not contain warnings or cautions which were adequate to protect Charles MacDonald’s health. Hence, their state law claims do not add to or differ from FIFRA’s requirements.3 Concededly, the MacDonalds must overcome the presumption that registered pesticides comply with FIFRA’s registration provisions. However, under the plain language of the statute, registration of a pesticide does not conclusively prove that the pesticide was properly labeled.4 7 U.S.C. § 136a(f)(2).
By declining to determine whether the claims raised by the MacDonalds are consistent with FIFRA’s broad labeling requirements, the majority fails to complete the preemption analysis mandated by Cipollone. In so doing, the majority has improperly allowed FIFRA to trample upon state law which is entirely consistent with the requirements set forth within the Act. Our federalism dictates that we refrain from extending federal power into state territory unless Congress intended such an extension. The majority pays short shrift to the ideals of federalism and comity so salient in this case. With such, this writer cannot agree and is therefore constrained to dissent.

. I disagree with the majority’s characterization of FIFRA. It does not establish a "detailed scheme for regulating the content and format of labels for herbicides.” See Maj. op at 6. While it is true that the EPA has set forth such a scheme in the Code of Federal Regulations, a thorough review of FIFRA reveals that no where therein did Congress authorize the EPA to establish such a scheme. FIFRA solely provides broad, general labeling requirements.

. The pesticide must also be properly classified for general use, restricted use, or both, as outlined in § 136a(d) of the subchapter. However, *1027the classification requirements do not negate the requirement that pesticide labels contain adequate warnings and cautions.

. The state law requirements on which the Mac-Donalds rely may, indeed, conflict with the EPA's labeling regulations. However, as explained in footnote one, those regulations were not authorized by Congress in FIFRA. Moreover, FIFRA clearly provides that compliance with EPA registration requirements is not tantamount to compliance with FIFRA. See infra note 4. Thus, although it may conflict with the EPA's regulatory scheme, the state law in question may, in fact, be absolutely consistent with FIFRA’s broad requirements.

. Congress undoubtedly anticipated that failure to warn causes of action would be raised, for it specifically determined that compliance with the registration requirements set forth by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency would not conclusively establish compliance with FIFRA’s labeling requirements. 7 U.S.C. § 136a(f)(2). To the contrary, if no cancellation proceedings are in effect, registration of a pesticide only constitutes "prima facie evidence that the pesticide, its labeling and packaging comply with the registration provisions” outlined in the Act. Id.