Texas Justices Drill Down on Evidentiary Requirement in Spray-Drift Cases

Most of the questions fired off by Texas Supreme Court justices during oral arguments Wednesday challenged the evidentiary standard Helena Chemical Co. argues is required for a group of cotton farmers to take to trial allegations that negligent aerial herbicide application damaged their crops.

The Texas Supreme Court has been asked to determine whether Robert Cox and a group of nine other farmers who allege the aerial application of Sendero damaged 111 West Texas cotton fields have presented enough evidence to proceed with their lawsuit that a trial court tossed on a no-evidence summary judgment motion. An intermediate appellate court partially revived the farmers’ suit, and Helena took the fight to the state’s high court in January 2021.