Malathion makers have no duty to warn.The California Supreme Court has ruled that pesticide manufacturers cannot be held liable for injuries to a teenager who was blinded by malathion during a state emergency spraying program. (Macias v. California, No. S039425,1995 WL 417872 (Cal. July 17, 1995). The family of plaintiff Juan Macias, however, can pursue negligence claims against the state for failing to properly warn the public of health hazards--notably blindness--linked to malathion. The pesticide remains in use to eradicate the devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. Mediterranean fruit fly Mediterranean fruit fly: see fruit fly. Mediterranean fruit fly or Med fly Fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) proven to be particularly destructive to citrus crops, at great economic cost. from California crops. The 6-1 supreme court majority found that because the medfly infestation infestation /in·fes·ta·tion/ (-fes-ta´shun) parasitic attack or subsistence on the skin and/or its appendages, as by insects, mites, or ticks; sometimes used to denote parasitic invasion of the organs and tissues, as by helminths. left California in a declared state of emergency, the state--and no one else--was in charge of the eradication program, which included issuing public warnings about spraying. Plaintiff's attorney plaintiff's attorney n. the attorney who represents a plaintiff (the suing party) in a lawsuit. In lawyer parlance a "plaintiff's attorney" refers to a lawyer who regularly represents persons who are suing for damages, while a lawyer who is regularly chosen by an Barrett Litt argued that manufacturers American Cyanamid Co., Platte Chemical Co., and United Agri Products Co. had a duty to warn duty to warn AIDS A legal concept indicating that a health care provider who learns that an HIV-infected Pt is likely to transmit the virus to another identifiable person must take steps to warn that person California residents of malathion's health hazards because state agencies had only warned of possible damage to paint on cars. The supreme court decision reversed a ruling by the California Court of Appeal, which found the manufacturers had a duty to warn. (Malathion Exposure Suit Goes to State High Court, TRIAL, Oct. 1994, at 106.) |
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