Paraquat Lawsuits
Paraquat lawsuits claim that long-term paraquat exposure causes Parkinson’s disease. Plaintiffs diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease say manufacturers failed to warn users about the risk. If you were exposed to paraquat and later developed Parkinson's disease, you may qualify to file a lawsuit.
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Paraquat Lawsuit Updates
As of December 2024, 5,835 paraquat lawsuits were pending, and a total of 7,167 cases were filed in Illinois federal court.
Another group of paraquat lawsuits are proceeding in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. In these updates, we focus mostly on MDL 3004 in the Southern District of Illinois. But if key issues occur in Philadelphia, we will report on them.
Paraquat Lawsuit Timeline
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November 2024
Pressure continues to mount for the EPA to ban paraquat. At the start of the month, seven U.S. senators signed a letter urging the EPA to ban the pesticide, citing its toxicity as well as the potential risk of Parkinson’s disease. 47 members of Congress sent a similar letter to the agency last month.
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October 2024
47 members of Congress have signed a letter to the EPA advocating for a ban on paraquat, citing its serious toxicity and ties to the development of Parkinson’s disease. Paraquat is already banned in dozens of other countries.
This month, there was also a slight update to the 10 cases that were selected in August as potential bellwethers. Two of those cases were voluntarily dismissed after being selected, and the court has now picked two new cases to take their place. Court documents say the possibility of dismissals had been anticipated, so this change likely shouldn’t have a big impact on the direction or schedule of the litigation. -
August 2024
MDL Judge Nancy Rosenstengel has selected 10 new potential bellwether cases to move into discovery. This follows the dismissal of the original four bellwether cases in April after the testimony of one of the plaintiff’s key experts was thrown out. It was a quiet few months, but the new cases will now move forward.
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June 2024
Unfortunately, we have no news on which cases have been selected for a new round of bellwether trials. But we’ve analyzed the docket report for the MDL, and on June 5, Judge Rosenstengel extended the deadline for bellwether case selection by 30 days. So, we hope to have an update in July about the new cases, and hopefully, this litigation will get back on track.
In the meantime, new cases continue to be filed in the MDL, but not as many as before. However, lawyers say there has been an uptick in newly filed cases in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas following the cancellation of the previous bellwether trials in the MDL. -
May 2024
The judge allowed plaintiffs an extension until June 10 to select 16 new potential bellwether cases for limited discovery, according to our review of court documents. After the shake-up last month with bellwether trials and key expert testimony being barred, it is good news that the litigation continues to move forward.
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April 2024
MDL Judge Nancy Rosenstengel dismissed four bellwether test trial lawsuits after throwing out the testimony of the plaintiffs’ key expert on general causation. In our experience reporting on mass torts litigation, this can sometimes be a blow to the litigation because experts are key witnesses in determining the link between a product and the injuries it caused — in this case, paraquat’s link to Parkinson’s disease. But plaintiffs’ attorneys continue to take cases and are finding a way forward. The judge has allowed a new batch of bellwether cases to be selected.
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January 22, 2024
The MDL Court issued a case management order requiring depositions in 25 cases to be completed over the next two months. The order stated that Defendants had identified these cases as using unlikely theories of liability which linked the plaintiffs' illnesses to exposure to Paraquat.
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November 28, 2023
According to ABC News, the manufacturer had been aware of concerns for decades, as shown by internal documents.
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October 16, 2023
First jury trial delayed into 2024.
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October 3, 2023
Final pretrial conference held.
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June 26, 2023
Hearing on summary judgment and Daubert motions held.
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April 21, 2023
Status conference held.
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April 17, 2023
Deadline reached for summary judgment and Daubert motions to be filed.
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March 29, 2023
A judge signed an order allowing cases in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to proceed with a short-form complaint.
People have also filed lawsuits in state courts in Florida and California, according to paraquat manufacturer Syngenta. Lawyers are investigating claims in all 50 states.
- Why are people filing paraquat lawsuits?
There is very substantial medical literature showing a connection between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease. A multidistrict litigation has been formed in Chicago, and there are a number of lawsuits.
- Who is most at risk of being harmed by paraquat?
The individuals who are harmed by this are those that are the applicators. They are literally spraying the paraquat. It’s been on the market for so many years that people could have used it 20 years ago and developed Parkinson’s.
- What is the link between paraquat and Parkinson’s disease in lawsuits?
Paraquat is a very dangerous toxic chemical, and it has been known to be neurotoxic and cause nerve injury. Parkinson’s disease is a very major neurological condition, and large major epidemiological studies are showing a very strong connection.
Who Can File a Paraquat Lawsuit?
People who worked around paraquat or were exposed to paraquat regularly and later developed Parkinson’s disease may be eligible to file a paraquat lawsuit for compensation.
Most people exposed to paraquat work in commercial agriculture or live near commercial farms. Paraquat is a restricted-use herbicide. This means only licensed, trained applicators can use it, and it’s not licensed for home use.
Those who live near farms may be exposed to spray drift or contaminated water. People who live with licensed applicators may be exposed through contaminated clothing or equipment and by accompanying applicators to work sites.
- Agricultural workers, including farmers, licensed paraquat applicators, growers, pickers and landscapers.
- People who live near farmland sprayed with paraquat.
- Anyone who works around commercial weed killers and pesticides.
Contacting a paraquat lawyer is the only way to be sure you qualify. There are time limits to filing a lawsuit, so you should contact a lawyer right away. Some types of paraquat exposure are more difficult to determine than others, but an experienced paraquat attorney can help prove your case.
Why People Are Filing Paraquat Lawsuits
People exposed to paraquat who developed Parkinson’s disease filed lawsuits against Syngenta, Chevron and other defendants seeking compensation and to hold corporations accountable for negligence and failure to warn of the risks of Parkinson’s disease.
- Compensation for Injuries. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, and people with the disease will have to undergo treatment for the rest of their lives.
- Hold Companies Accountable. People who filed paraquat lawsuits claim manufacturers knew the weed killer was toxic for years and that it could cause Parkinson’s disease. Despite this, they continued to sell it and concealed this information from plaintiffs and others.
- Spread Awareness. Paraquat has been used in commercial farming and agriculture in the United States since the 1960s. Each year more people are exposed to it. Some people use it on the job, while others live near farms that use the toxic weed killer.
Parkinson’s disease can be debilitating. Filing a paraquat lawsuit may help secure compensation to pay for costly medical bills, lost wages and other expenses for past and future care. You may also seek compensation for physical and emotional pain and suffering as well as loss of quality of life.
Paraquat Lawsuit Examples
Most people who filed paraquat lawsuits said the weed killer led them to develop Parkinson’s disease, but some lawsuits include other injuries, such as kidney disease. Some of the earliest lawsuits were filed in 2017, according to Syngenta’s 2018 financial report.
As the number of lawsuits continued to grow, plaintiff’s lawyers petitioned the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate lawsuits before one federal court. These paraquat class-action suits and individual injury claims are now consolidated in Illinois federal court under Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel.
- Holliday et al. v. Syngenta et al.
- Iowa farmer Doug Holliday filed a class-action lawsuit against Syngenta and Chevron USA on behalf of himself and others for putting people at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease and failing to warn them. Holliday had sprayed paraquat on thousands of acres of crop ground since the 1990s.
- Adams v. Syngenta et al.
- Missouri resident Robin Adams and her husband routinely sprayed paraquat products. She developed Parkinson’s disease after more than 15 years of paraquat exposure by pesticide drift, direct exposure and drinking water contamination.
- Ratcliffe v. Syngenta et al.
- Louisiana resident Thelma Ratcliffe filed a paraquat lawsuit on behalf of her deceased husband, Harvey, who died from complications of Parkinson’s disease after years of paraquat exposure.
In most cases, plaintiffs worked with paraquat for many years before receiving a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
Paraquat Lawsuit Settlements
In June 2021, Syngenta and another defendant reached a settlement agreement with a few paraquat claimants for $187.5 million, according to our review of Syngenta’s 2022 annual report. There haven’t been any other court-approved settlements since then.
Some lawyers online have speculated that an average paraquat settlement amount could be between $100,000 and $500,000, depending on the severity of the injuries. But this is just an estimate, and we caution you against using these figures as fact. The outcome of the first trial will provide more information for potential case values.
Some people may confuse the herbicide Roundup with paraquat, but Roundup does not contain paraquat. Roundup’s active ingredient is glyphosate, a chemical that has been linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. People have filed Roundup lawsuits against Bayer and Monsanto that claim they hid the risks of the weed killer from the public.
Is Paraquat Banned in the United States?
Paraquat is not banned in the United States, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has restricted its use to licensed applicators. But, because of its toxicity, some lawmakers and activists have fought to get it banned. So far, legislation to ban paraquat hasn’t been successful.
After reviewing more than 70 articles on paraquat exposure, the EPA concluded “there is insufficient evidence to link registered paraquat products to any of the health outcomes investigated, including Parkinson’s disease, when used according to the label.”
Questions To Ask a Paraquat Attorney
Hiring an attorney is an important step. So, we recommend asking your potential attorney — or the attorney that you’ve already hired — some basic questions about paraquat litigation. These are just questions we suggest, and it’s important that you ask the attorney about anything you need clarification on throughout the process.
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