Failure-to-Warn Claims After Monsanto v. Durnell: Trial and Litigation Strategy for Non-Label Warning Cases

R. Stanton Jones, Co-Chair | Trial Lawyers for Justice

R. Stanton Jones co-chairs the Nationwide Appellate & Supreme Court Practice at Trial Lawyers for Justice. A nationally recognized appellate advocate who is also an accomplished trial lawyer, he represents clients in high-stakes constitutional, civil rights, antitrust, technology, and complex commercial disputes in trial and appellate courts throughout the country, building appellate strategy into cases from their earliest stages.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Jones earned his J.D., magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from Georgetown University Law Center. He also holds an M.A. in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan. He is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, the Supreme Court of the United States, all thirteen federal courts of appeals (the First through Eleventh Circuits and the D.C. and Federal Circuits), and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and the District of Maryland.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Jones has been named a Trailblazer by The American Lawyer, an Appellate Rising Star by Law360, and both a Rising Star and a Litigation Trailblazer by The National Law Journal, and he is recognized by The Legal 500 in appellate litigation. At Trial Lawyers for Justice, he leads the firm’s nationwide appellate and Supreme Court work as practice co-chair.

• Professional Involvement

Before joining Trial Lawyers for Justice, Mr. Jones was a Partner in the Supreme Court & Appellate practice at Arnold & Porter. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Appellate Advocacy at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching Supreme Court brief writing and oral advocacy.

• Experience

Mr. Jones has led and won major appeals in federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts across the country and has designed litigation strategy in some of the nation’s most significant constitutional, commercial, and public policy disputes — including landmark voting rights and redistricting litigation, major antitrust and commercial matters, and constitutional and civil rights cases. Since 2019 he has participated in thirteen trials in federal and state courts, including multiple first-chair roles, with a practice centered on integrating appellate and trial strategy through dispositive motions, issue preservation, jury instructions, post-trial proceedings, and verdict defense.

Among his most impactful matters, Mr. Jones represented parents and children separated under the federal government’s 2018 family separation policy in Federal Tort Claims Act litigation that helped secure substantial recoveries for affected families. His constitutional and civil rights victories include a landmark Second Circuit decision recognizing First Amendment protection against retaliatory deportation and landmark state constitutional rulings invalidating partisan gerrymanders and protecting voting rights.

SESSION 1 – Defining, Pleading, and Discovering the Non-Label Warning Case After Durnell | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court held in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell that FIFRA expressly preempts a failure-to-warn claim that would require a cancer warning on Roundup’s EPA-approved label. Read closely, the decision is far narrower than the headlines: it preempts only claims that would change the EPA-approved label, and it leaves untouched claims built on the channels a manufacturer actually controls — advertising, point-of-sale and retailer communications, direct notices, oral sales communications, professional-applicator outreach, and standalone websites. This session builds the front end of the case: defining the claim so it stays outside § 136v(b); pleading the non-label theory from the first filing with channel-specific allegations that disclaim label-change relief; and targeting discovery and expert proof to the defendant’s communication capacity, including feasible non-label warnings and audience reach.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Proving, Trying, and Preserving the Non-Label Case — and Salvaging Pending Claims | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

With the claim defined and pleaded, this session turns to proof and protection. Faculty will show how to select plaintiffs and prove exposure, reliance, and causation without the label, including the use of heeding presumptions; how to draft jury instructions, verdict forms, and limiting instructions that isolate non-label liability; and how to preserve the issue through post-trial motions and appeal so the case falls outside of Durnell’s scope. It also covers salvaging pending cases at every posture, the leading defense arguments — broad “labeling,” content-versus-channel, and implied/obstacle preemption — and how to answer them, and how the same strategy extends to other federally regulated labels, including FDA-approved drugs. Attendees will leave with a concrete framework to apply in active cases.