Sternhagen v. Dow Company
Montana Supreme Court
935 P.2d 1139 (1997)
Charles Sternhagen sprayed crops with the herbicide 2,4-D from 1948 to 1950 and died of cancer in 1982; his wife, Marlene Sternhagen (plaintiff), sued the herbicide's manufacturer, Dow Company (defendant), claiming it caused his cancer. Dow wanted to introduce "state-of-the-art" evidence showing it neither knew nor could have known in 1948-50 that 2,4-D might cause cancer, to defend against Marlene's strict-liability theory. The trial court certified to the Montana Supreme Court the question of whether such evidence is admissible in a strict-liability products case.
Whether state-of-the-art evidence -- showing a manufacturer's actual or reasonably possible knowledge of a product's dangers at the relevant time -- is admissible in a products liability case brought under strict liability.