Monsanto v. Durnell

Summary

Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Barrett, held that FIFRA expressly preempts Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim because it would require a cancer warning additional to or different from the EPA-approved Roundup label that federal law requires Monsanto to use. EPA’s registration and labeling determinations impose federal requirements, and FIFRA’s provision making registration only prima facie evidence of compliance does not preserve this state tort claim. The Court reversed and remanded without deciding implied preemption. Justice Thomas concurred separately to question FIFRA’s constitutional foundations under the Commerce Clause, nondelegation principles, and the Supremacy Clause. Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Gorsuch, dissented, arguing that Durnell’s claim parallels FIFRA’s continuing misbranding prohibition, EPA label approval does not create a preemptive labeling requirement, and implied preemption also does not bar the claim.