Environmental · Central Valley
California Pesticide & Agricultural Chemical Exposure Attorney
Civil representation for families, farmworkers (third-party claims), schools, and communities harmed by pesticide drift and agricultural chemical exposure in the Central Valley and across California.
Spray drift does not respect property lines.
Please read first: this page is kept online for general information. The Law Offices of David L. Milligan, APC is not accepting new environmental or toxic-exposure matters. If you need a lawyer for a matter like this, please contact the State Bar of California’s Lawyer Referral Services at (866) 442-2529 — they will connect you with an attorney who handles these cases. Please do that now rather than waiting to hear from this office. Legal deadlines apply and can be short; delay can forfeit rights.
How exposure cases arise
- Drift — applications that move off-target onto homes, schools, workers in adjacent fields, and entire neighborhoods
- Label and permit violations — wind-condition limits, buffer zones, restricted-entry intervals ignored
- Chronic community exposure near repeated applications
- Acute poisoning incidents requiring emergency care
California regulates pesticide use through the Department of Pesticide Regulation and county agricultural commissioners; violation reports, use records, and applicator logs are discoverable and often decisive.
Who can be liable
Applicators (including aerial sprayers), the growers who hired them, chemical suppliers in qualifying cases, and — for defective products and inadequate warnings — manufacturers under product-liability law. Farmworkers injured on the job may also hold third parties civilly liable beyond workers' compensation.
Proving exposure and harm
These cases are built on records and science: application logs, weather data, county investigation files, medical documentation of symptoms, and toxicology. Health-effect claims must be developed carefully with expert support — sound counsel do not overstate the science, and prove what the evidence supports.
How pesticide claims fit environmental litigation
Pesticide work sits alongside nitrate groundwater litigation and broader environmental litigation — the same investigation discipline, the same experts, the same willingness to try the case.
This Firm Is Not Accepting These Cases — Referral Information
The State Bar of California’s Lawyer Referral Services can connect you with an attorney who handles these matters.
Related Case Types
Important: This page is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This firm is not accepting new matters of this kind and cannot review inquiries about them; contacting the firm about this subject does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Statutory citations are illustrative; the legal framework applicable to a specific case depends on the facts. The Law Offices of David L. Milligan, APC is licensed in California.