We have won more than $40 billion in jury verdicts and settlements and have been in business for almost 70 years.
The paraquat lawsuits claim that use of the herbicide paraquat can cause Parkinson’s disease. Claimants in these cases seek personal injury damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Our paraquat lawyers, who are leading the nationwide litigation, are still accepting clients who have had significant exposure to paraquat and have developed Parkinson’s disease.
Since 1955, our law firm has been fighting large corporations in product liability cases like this one.
If you or a loved one endured chronic paraquat exposure and have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, call us today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. Call (800) 277-1193 or complete a short Free Evaluation Form.
Agricultural workers and farmers who were exposed to paraquat and later developed Parkinson’s disease have filed lawsuits in state and federal courts. The plaintiffs claim that the makers of paraquat:
The first lawsuits were filed in Illinois state court in 2017. Shortly thereafter, cases were filed in California state court. Some of those cases settled in 2021. Over 6,000 cases have been filed in federal courts and in various state courts, including California, since that settlement.
In June 2021, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) was created in federal court in Illinois for the purpose of consolidating and coordinating the pretrial proceedings in all of the federal cases. All cases pending in federal courts were transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel is overseeing the MDL.
Our firm’s lawyers serve as co-lead counsel and on the plaintiff’s executive committee for the MDL.
Defendants in the lawsuits include Syngenta, which makes the herbicide, and Chevron, which distributed paraquat in the United States from 1964 to 1986. Today, Syngenta is the leading manufacturer and distributor of paraquat and sells it primarily under the brand name Gramoxone.
The paraquat exposure lawsuits are not joined as a class action lawsuit. Rather, these lawsuits are consolidated in a Paraquat MDL. This means that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that these cases be transferred to a single court and consolidated for the purpose of discovery and pretrial hearings.
This type of consolidation streamlines the legal process in situations where issues of fact are common across multiple cases. By litigating common issues in a consolidated manner, the parties are able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions, oftentimes putting them in a position to consider resolution— including settlement—more expediently than if the cases were not consolidated.
Although many of the issues of fact are common among cases in the MDL, each case is considered on its own merit, and damages are considered on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, the MDL provides an efficient way to handle similar cases while maintaining each plaintiff’s individuality.
Our law firm is still accepting paraquat cases.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after having chronic exposure to paraquat herbicide, please call us. We can investigate your case and determine if you might be eligible to file a lawsuit.
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. Call us at (800) 277-1193 or fill out our Free Evaluation Form.
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