Dec. 24, 2010
California’s Sixth Appellate District Court says an organic grower can sue for pesticide drift. Larry Jacobs has a 120-acre organic herb farm at Santa Cruz, when some of his organic dill was rejected by Whole Foods because it had pesticide residue he traced it to drift from a neighboring Brussels sprout field. He sued the pesticide applicator and won a $1 million settlement.
Western Farm Service appealed saying they had legally applied the pesticide and therefore Jacobs had no right to sue. The appellate court disagreed and upheld the lower court ruling. The case is seen as precedent-setting in that an applicator can be held liable even if no law is broken.
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