## Facts

- Richard Leander Ferebee, Jr., an agricultural laborer at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, regularly sprayed fields using paraquat, a herbicide distributed in the United States by Chevron.
- Plaintiffs alleged Ferebee experienced long-term dermal exposure to dilute paraquat solutions and later developed pulmonary fibrosis that caused his death.
- Two treating pulmonary specialists testified that paraquat poisoning caused Ferebee’s illness and death; Chevron presented contrary expert testimony disputing chronic-injury causation.
- Paraquat’s labeling warned of acute toxicity and immediate risks but did not warn that long-term skin exposure could cause serious lung disease.
- Ferebee died before trial; his estate pursued a survival action and his minor children pursued a wrongful death claim.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence permitted a reasonable jury to find that paraquat exposure proximately caused Ferebee’s pulmonary fibrosis and death.
2. Whether Chevron could be strictly liable for failure to warn based on actual or constructive knowledge of the alleged chronic risk from long-term dermal exposure.
3. Whether federal pesticide regulation and EPA label approval precluded or preempted state tort liability for inadequate warnings.
4. Whether inadequate labeling could be a proximate cause when the user allegedly did not read the product label.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit affirmed the judgment for plaintiffs.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s findings on medical causation and failure to warn, and the district court properly denied directed verdict and JNOV motions.
- The court rejected Chevron’s federal preclusion/preemption arguments, concluding federal pesticide labeling regulation did not bar the tort judgment.
- The court also rejected the argument that failure to read the label defeated causation as a matter of law.

## Legal Principles

- When qualified experts conflict on causation, credibility and inference-drawing are for the jury; appellate review does not reweigh expert testimony when the verdict is supported by the record.
- A manufacturer may be strictly liable for failure to warn if a warning is inadequate with respect to risks the manufacturer knew or reasonably should have known at the time of distribution.
- Federal regulatory approval of a pesticide label does not, by itself, immunize a manufacturer from state tort liability for inadequate warnings; damages actions may coexist with federal regulation.
- Failure-to-warn causation may be found even if the injured user did not read the label, where an adequate warning could reasonably have altered workplace practices or intermediary conduct and thereby reduced or avoided the harm.

## Conclusion

The court sustained a jury verdict imposing strict liability on Chevron for inadequate paraquat warnings, held that the evidence supported causation despite competing experts, and ruled that federal pesticide labeling regulation did not preempt state-law failure-to-warn liability.


Ferebee v. Chevron Chem. Co., 736 F.2d 1529 (D.C. Cir. 1984)