Honeybee Deaths ‘Collateral Damage’ in Zika Control, Court Says

A South Carolina county defeated a honeybee seller’s claims it should be liable for “mounds of dead bees” that appeared after it applied pesticides to try and combat mosquitoes and the Zika virus, with the Fourth Circuit calling the bee deaths on Friday unforeseen “collateral damage.”

Mitch Randall Yawn and Juanita Mae Stanley, doing business as Flowertown Bee Farm and Supplies, alleged their bees were unconstitutionally taken because Dorchester County sprayed pesticides in their area without warning them of the spray and the potential harm to their product.

The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina granted the ...