## Facts

- Philip C. Jackson was Orkin’s Kalamazoo branch manager and a certified commercial pesticide applicator.
- Jackson sent Andrew Price, a noncertified Orkin employee, to apply chlordane, a restricted-use pesticide regulated by Michigan’s Pesticide Control Act (PCA).
- Price applied chlordane improperly inside a residence and did not follow recommended procedures.
- After the homeowner complained, Orkin fired Price, redid the work properly, refunded payment, replaced carpeting, and paid for medical testing for the family.
- The prosecution charged Jackson with a PCA misdemeanor on the theory that the Act makes a certified applicator “responsible” for pesticide applications by a noncertified person acting under the certified applicator’s instruction and control.
- Jackson entered a nolo contendere plea while reserving for appeal whether the PCA authorizes vicarious criminal liability; the district court imposed a $100 fine plus costs and fees.
- The circuit court reversed, holding the PCA did not authorize criminal liability for a certified applicator based solely on a noncertified employee’s violation.

## Issues

1. Whether the PCA’s statement that a certified applicator is “responsible” for pesticide applications by a noncertified applicator under the certified applicator’s instruction and control authorizes vicarious criminal liability.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the circuit court and reinstated the district court conviction.
- The court held the PCA’s term “responsible” includes criminal responsibility, not merely civil or administrative accountability.
- The court reasoned that the PCA’s public-protection purpose and its provision of criminal penalties support reading “responsible” to include vicarious criminal liability for supervised noncertified applicators’ violations.

## Legal Principles

- When a regulatory statute provides criminal penalties and assigns a licensed or certified supervisor “responsibility” for acts performed under the supervisor’s instruction and control, courts may construe that responsibility to include criminal liability absent statutory language limiting it to civil or administrative consequences.
- In public-welfare regulatory schemes involving potentially dangerous substances, legislatures may impose vicarious criminal liability on the person best positioned to prevent violations (e.g., the supervising certified applicator).

## Conclusion

The court held that Michigan’s Pesticide Control Act permits vicarious criminal liability: a certified commercial applicator may be convicted for a noncertified employee’s improper pesticide application performed under the certified applicator’s instruction and control.


People v. Jackson, 176 Mich. App. 620 (Mich. Ct. App. 1989)