Judge Selects 10 Paraquat Lawsuits As Potential Bellwether Cases In Parkinson’s Disease Litigation
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Following a months-long delay, the paraquat multidistrict litigation judge has chosen 10 new potential bellwether cases. These cases, which replace the four original bellwethers that were dismissed in April, will now enter discovery.
The MDL, which is in the Southern District of Illinois, had seen little progress over the last few months as Judge Nancy Rosenstengel repeatedly extended the deadline for parties to present 16 new cases for discovery following the April dismissals.
Each of the new cases lists paraquat manufacturer Syngenta as the defendant.
Plaintiffs in the selected cases have until Aug. 20 to voluntarily dismiss their cases without prejudice. Depositions for each case are set to take place by Nov. 25.
There are currently over 5,700 pending paraquat lawsuits, with 6,811 total cases filed in Illinois federal court. Litigation has focused on the pesticide’s possible links to the development of Parkinson’s disease. Plaintiffs claim that paraquat manufacturers are responsible for their Parkinson’s diagnoses since they failed to warn of the potential risks.
There are numerous active Roundup lawsuits as well, which claim that the popular pesticide is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency also issued an emergency suspension of DCPA weed killer over health concerns for unborn babies when pregnant people are exposed to it.
Paraquat MDL Back on Track After Original Bellwether Trials Were Dismissed
The selection of a new group of potential bellwether cases is welcome news for plaintiffs who saw a major setback in April and little movement in the months that followed.
The four original bellwether cases – which were initially selected from a group of six in 2022 – ran into a major roadblock when Judge Rosenstengel excluded the testimony of Martin Wells, the plaintiffs’ sole expert on general causation.
Without that key testimony, the cases could not move forward.
“Plaintiffs do not dispute that the exclusion of Dr. Wells’ expert testimony is fatal to their claims in the four trial selection cases,” Judge Rosenstengel said in the memorandum.
After Judge Rosenstengel ruled that the testimony’s exclusion mandated the dismissal of the four trials, she directed the parties to select new potential cases for fact discovery with a deadline of May 10.
But multiple delays set in from there, with the deadline for case selection extended at least twice.
After nearly four months with little news, the 16 cases were submitted, reviewed and narrowed down to the 10 that will now move forward.
Paraquat’s Alleged Link to Parkinson’s Disease at Center of Lawsuits
The ongoing litigation surrounding paraquat has stemmed from connections between the pesticide and Parkinson’s disease. Multiple studies have linked long-term use of paraquat to the development of Parkinson’s.
Lawsuits have claimed that paraquat manufacturers failed to warn the public about the potential risks posed by extended usage.
Syngenta’s Gramoxone has been one of the most popular brands of paraquat, and all 10 cases moving into discovery list Syngenta as the defendant. The EPA canceled the registration of Gramoxone SL 2.0 at the manufacturer’s request in September 2022.
According to the EPA, consumers use paraquat both to control weeds and on common crops such as cotton. It is one of several pesticides currently dealing with potential links to health concerns.
Roundup has seen numerous lawsuits in recent years over its possible connection to the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are over 4,300 open cases, with a Philadelphia man receiving $2.25 billion in damages earlier this year after claiming his cancer resulted from Roundup usage. The judge later made a verdict that reduced it to $400 million.
Last week he EPA suspended registrations for DCPA, an ingredient in some pesticide products, due to concerns of how exposure affects thyroid hormone levels in unborn babies.
Editor Lindsay Donaldson contributed to this article.