Paraquat Lawsuit Settlement Amounts

Our lawyers are handling Paraquat lawsuits in all 50 states. This page is about projected Paraquat settlement payouts for a viable Paraquat lawsuit.

People who have developed Parkinson’s disease from Paraquat want to better understand the range of settlement amounts they can expect in their Paraquat lawsuit.

It is early in the Paraquat litigation. Settlement compensation payouts are still speculative. But we can look at other similar injuries to get a settlement range if plaintiffs’ lawyers are successful, as expected, in this litigation.

The expected Paraquat settlement amounts will fluctuate as the litigation progresses. Our lawyers will continue to update this page with revised payout projections.

August 2023 Paraquat Lawsuit Update

Here are the developments in the still-growing Paraquat lawsuit in 2023:

September 18, 2023: Summer is typically a slow time for mass tort filings, but the Paraquat class action MDL has added over 1,000 new cases since Memorial Day. There are now over 4,700 plaintiffs in the Paraquat MDL, making it one of the biggest mass tort currently pending in the federal courts.
September 6, 2023: Closing briefs, summarizing their respective stances post the Daubert hearing, must be submitted by the parties on or before September 8, 2023.
September 2, 2023: Syngenta has accused Dr. Earl Ray Dorsey, a New York neurologist, of collaborating with plaintiffs’ lawyers and journalists to produce a scientific article linking Syngenta’s paraquat weed killer to Parkinson’s disease. Syngenta alleges in new legal pleadings that the lawyers improperly influenced Dorsey’s research. They argue that tainted scientific evidence should be presented in court. Dr. Amit Ray, co-author of the article, provided documents pursuant to a subpoena, but Dorsey refused.Dorsey’s lawyers counter that the document request was late and irrelevant. They claim Syngenta aims to discredit Dorsey’s work and emphasize his lack of involvement with the litigation. The article, titled “Paraquat, Parkinson’s Disease, and Agnotology,” used information from a plaintiffs’ lawyer via The Guardian. Syngenta questions the article’s conclusions against established science.Syngenta’s motion sought drafts and Dorsey’s communications with writers, editors, and plaintiff attorneys. Dorsey shared the article with a journalist but, importantly, denies sharing it with plaintiffs’ attorneys. It is hard to understand why asking people in the media for opinions on an article could be a bad thing.
September 1, 2023: After 4 full days of Daubert hearings last week, the Paraquat MDL issued an Order requesting additional briefing from both sides. The Order asked the parties to address how the case of Manpower, Inc. v. Insurance Co. of Pa., 732 F.3d 796 (7th Cir. 2013), applied to the reliability of the plaintiffs’ key expert, Dr. Martin Wells. The Order also cancelled the upcoming bellwether trial date in October, which marks a significant setback for the plaintiffs. The fact that we are still having a conversation about whether Paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease is ridiculous.
August 21, 2023:Yesterday marked the beginning of the pivotal Daubert hearing in the Paraquat MDL. Plaintiffs assert that Paraquat causes particular cell death and tissue damage characteristic of Parkinson’s disease. The science on this seems extremely clear. But the defendants are pushing back.

The spotlight is on the expert epidemiologist, Dr. Martin Wells. His scientific credibility is under scrutiny. Dr. Wells, central to the victims’ case, has analyzed previous studies and concluded that Paraquat likely plays a significant role in causing Parkinson’s, more so than other factors.

However, Chevron and Syngenta contest this. They criticize not only Dr. Wells but also experts Anthony Lang and Peter Spencer for their approach. They highlight that Dr. Wells has been excluded by prior courts in some cases. They belief that Parkinson’s primarily results from genetic factors, nothing the some of plaintiffs’ experts have said this in the past. The hearing will resume today and is scheduled until the 24th.

From the outset, we’ve believed this hearing to be a linchpin in the litigation. Neither Chevron nor Syngenta would risk these lawsuits progressing to trial. A victory in this hearing could lead to reasonable settlements, while a defeat would spell disaster. There is that much riding on this hearing.

August 18, 2023: A new Paraquat lawsuit – Thomas v. Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC – was filed yesterday by an Illinois man who claims that was exposed to Paraquat for a sustained period of time and suffered permanent physical injury and pain (presumably Parkinson’s disease) as a result.

August 16, 2023:There are now 4,552 lawsuits pending in the MDL, more than doubt the number of claims at the same time last year.

August 15, 2023: The Paraquat class action lawsuit will have a hearing next Monday on the scientific merit of these claims. This is the biggest event in the history of this litigation. If plaintiffs win as expected, this could be the driving force behind a Paraquat settlement.

The hearing will begin 2 p.m. CST on August 21, 2023, and will run until August 24, 2023.

August 4, 2023: There are about 350 Paraquat lawsuits pending in state court in Pennsylvania. The defendants maintain that out-of-state plaintiffs cannot sue them in Pennsylvania, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling upholding the state’s consent by registration statute. Switzerland-based agriculture company Syngenta, one of two key defendants in this litigation, contends that the high court’s decision might bolster its argument that the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas does not have general personal jurisdiction over it.
Their argument rests on the uncertainty left by the ruling regarding Pennsylvania law, which stipulates that companies subject themselves to state jurisdiction when registering to do business there. Some believe that the statute may violate the dormant Commerce Clause, a concern the state Supreme Court is expected to address.

The court will have the parties brief and argue the issue. The bet here is that Additional briefings over jurisdictional issues have been requested, and in the case of jurisdiction being found lacking, discovery is already underway to establish specific personal jurisdiction for out-of-state plaintiffs.
August 1, 2023: The Daubert challenges contesting the admissibility of scientific evidence in the Paraquat MDL will likely be decided within the next two months. The Daubert motions on both sides were fully briefed and submitted as of last week. On Friday, Judge Rosenstengel issued an Order explaining that she will hold a major Daubert hearing on August 21, 2023. At that time, she will hear testimony from the plaintiffs’ most important expert witness, Dr. Martin Wells. Following the hearing, the parties will get to submit one final brief before Judge Rosenstengel considers the matter. A ruling could come soon after.

More 2023 Paraquat Lawsuit Updates

July 18, 2023: Another 223 new cases were filed or transferred into the Paraquat class action MDL last month. That is down from last month and slightly below the monthly average of 289 we have seen in this litigation since the start of the year. We believe this could be the start of a general slowing down in the volume of new cases that will continue moving forward.
July 1, 2023: The first Paraquat trial is set for October 2023.
June 25, 2023: Over the last month, another 353 new plaintiffs were added to the Paraquat class action MDL. That brings the total number of pending claims in the MDL up to 4,083. A total of 1,731 new Paraquat cases have been added to the MDL since the start of the year, an average of 289 per month.
June 12, 2023: Last week, Chevron and Syngenta AG took action by filing for summary judgment in the MDL. Their argument is that the plaintiffs’ claims, connecting Paraquat to Parkinson’s disease, are unsupported by scientific evidence, as no peer-reviewed studies are confirming this link. If granted, this motion would result in the dismissal of 3,700 claims in the Paraquat class action lawsuit. However, the likelihood of this motion succeeding is exceedingly slim.
June 1, 2023: After a brief slowdown in new case volume at the start of the year, the Paraquat class action has quickly gone back to being one of the fastest-growing mass torts. Last month we saw 511 new cases added to the MDL, a record high. However, that record could get eclipsed this month, as several hundred new cases have already been transferred into the MDL in just the last ten days.
May 20, 2023: A bit more fallout from the “dead clients” mistakes we talked wrote about on May 10th. Judge Rosenstengel has issued a new order regarding cases filed on behalf of deceased plaintiffs and those based on questionable theories of proof. The ruling comes after allegations were made that some lawyers had improperly filed lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs who were already deceased. The defendants seek for a case management order on February 27, 2023, asserting that some attorneys filed actions and sworn plaintiff assessment questionnaires on behalf of the deceased, even purportedly copying signatures to make it seem like these plaintiffs were testifying posthumously. These allegations have led the court to question the integrity of the dockets in this litigation. So plaintiffs’ lawyers are now required to certify the living status of each plaintiff, the nature of their contact with the plaintiff, and, if the plaintiff is deceased, the date of their death and who is now acting on behalf of their estate. Failure to provide this information could lead to case dismissal. The court has also expressed concern about cases based on improbable theories of proof. They are likely to target weak drifter cases in particular. The parties have been ordered to identify and discuss any ongoing cases presenting implausible theories of proof that warrant their voluntary dismissal.
May 15, 2023: The Paraquat class action MDL continues to be one of the hottest mass torts in the country. Over 500 new Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuits were added to the MDL over the last 30 days. That is the highest monthly total in over a year, and it comes on the heels of back-to-back months of over 200 new cases. Since the start of this year, 1,300 new cases have been added to the MDL. If this continues, there will be over 5,000 pending cases by the end of the year.
May 12, 2023: We sometimes forget about the Paraquat state court litigation. There are 260 Paraquat lawsuits in the Complex Litigation Center in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
May 10, 2023: Defense counsel has accused plaintiffs’ lawyers of filing pleadings on behalf of dead clients. This happens in mass tort litigation, where lawyers are taking action on behalf of a large number of clients. Lawyers often do not reach out to verify one last time the client is still living before taking action. It is not something that should happen. But it hardly causes prejudice to the defendants who want to court to issue an order to address this problem.
May 1, 2023: As we reported on March 27^th, Syngenta and Chevron filed a motion to strike Martin Wells’ rebuttal expert report. The court has ruled, finding that the report sufficiently addresses the opinions and criticisms of the Defendants’ expert. So the motion to strike is denied. The order said that any further objections from the Defendants should be raised through a Daubert motion. Judge Rosenstengel has also ordered all parties to propose a Case Management Order by April 19, 2023, outlining agreed-upon deadlines for submitting summary judgment and Daubert motions and any guidelines or limitations for these motions.
April 18, 2023: As Paraquat settlement rumors continue, these Parkinson’s disease class action continues to be one of the most active mass torts in the country. The MDL added 221 cases over the last 30 days. The total number of pending cases now stands at 3,389; if this trend continues, it could reach over 5,000 by the end of the year. To put this in context, less than 1,000 cases were pending at this time last year.
April 10, 2023: The Paraquat MDL in Illinois includes over 2,000 Paraquat lawsuits pending in the federal courts, but there is also another Paraquat class action pending in the Pennsylvania state court system. The Pennsylvania Paraquat class action currently has 264 pending cases, and the judge in that litigation recently ruled that new incoming plaintiffs can utilize a Short Form Complaint when filing their case.
March 27, 2023: As the date for the first bellwether test trial approaches, Syngenta’s defense team continues to take aim at the team of expert witnesses assembled by the plaintiffs. No surprise. This is what defense lawyers do. Most recently, Syngenta filed a motion to exclude the testimony of Martin Wells, an expert statistician for the plaintiffs. Wells would testify that the results of his metanalysis (examining prior epidemiological studies) supports the conclusion that there is a link between Paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease. Syngenta’s motion to exclude argues that Wells deliberately cherry-picked studies with favorable results to include in his analysis and, therefore, his results are unreliable. This is a tough road for Syngenta because the science in this litigation is so strong for plaintiffs.
March 16, 2023: 277 new plaintiffs joined the Paraquat class action MDL last month. That brings the total number of pending cases up to 2,998, and it marks the second month in a row that the Paraquat MDL has posted an above-average volume of new case filings.
March 5, 2023: The evidence continues to show that Paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease, and the defendants knew it. Syngenta recently produced documents in the Paraquat litigation showing that the company may have known about the potential health risks of exposure to Paraquat in the 1970s. The documents further indicate that by 2001, Syngenta was very much aware of the potential link between Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease and even created an internal task team to monitor the potential liability of this link.
March 1, 2023: With the first bellwether test trial this summer, both sides are battling over what evidence will be permitted at trial. In the most recent dispute, the defense team has moved to strike a supplemental expert witness report submitted by plaintiff expert David Mortensen. Mortensen is a Plant Ecology Professor at Penn State and a key expert for the plaintiffs. After Mortensen’s deposition (and several months after the deadline for expert reports), the plaintiffs submitted a supplemental expert report from Mortensen which sought to clarify specific issues raised during his deposition. The defense lawyers immediately moved to strike the supplemental report, and they appear to have a valid argument. The Court will likely rule on the motion in the next week.
February 17, 2023: Last year, the Paraquat class action litigation averaged 150 and sometimes over 200 new cases monthly. So when we only saw 69 new cases added to the MDL last month, it seemed to indicate that 2023 might be the year this litigation slowed down. This month, however, 300 new Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuits were added to the MDL. That marks the highest monthly total since the MDL began and suggests that the high volume of new Paraquat lawsuits will probably continue as we head toward trial in October 2023.
February 4, 2023: The Paraquat MDL plaintiffs are fighting to obtain critical documents from Exponent Inc. This third-party scientific consulting company worked for Syngenta on Paraquat’s potential safety hazards. Exponent has refused to produce documents in response to a subpoena from the plaintiffs, and last month, the plaintiffs filed a motion to compel. Both Syngenta and Exponent have filed separate response briefs in opposition to the motion to compel. The amount of pushback on producing these documents indicates that they contain key evidence that could be very harmful to the defense’s position.
January 17, 2023: According to the most recent report from the JPML that came out today, there are a total of 2,352 cases pending in the Paraquat class action lawsuit. That is only an increase of 69 cases from last month. This is somewhat misleading, however, because the MDL docket shows that well over 200 new member cases have been opened over the last month and these were presumably not included in the most recent total.
January 6, 2023: New claims continue and are transferred into the Paraquat class action lawsuit in Illinois. The latest Paraquat lawsuit that has been filed is a wrongful death action brought by the surviving spouse and two sons of a Louisiana man who died after battling Parkinson’s disease. The suit in Scafidel et al. v. Syngenta Crop Protection LLC alleges that Chevron and Syngenta are responsible for a man developing Parkinson’s disease after repeated exposure to Paraquat.
January 5, 2023: Does anyone believe that Paraquat, a poison, only causes Parkinson’s disease? With Paraquat now in focus on this litigation, interest in the harm this pesticide can cause is on the rise. A new study published in December 2022 tells us that victims who experience Paraquat poisoning can develop organ damage that includes acute kidney injury (AKI). The study also finds that chronic Paraquat exposure affects renal function and can lead to chronic renal disease.
January 2, 2023: The Paraquat class action lawsuit grew a great deal in 2023. The litigation averaged over 200 new cases per month, growing by almost 400% since the start of the year. So will this trend continue in 2023, or will the Paraquat class action see an inevitable slowdown? Our prediction is the litigation continues to grow as awareness of the connection between Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease grows. But 2023 is unlikely to match the pace of Paraquat suits we saw in 2022.
December 19, 2022: The first bellwether test trial in the Paraquat MDL has been postponed again. In an Order issued at the end of last week, Judge Rosentengel ruled that the opening trial will now be set for October 2023.
November 7, 2022: Over the last two weeks nearly 100 new Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuits have been transferred into the MDL. This continues the flood of new Paraquat lawsuits we have seen over the last six months. In the meantime, both sides have filed responses to the recently issued report and recommendation of the Special Master regarding certain discovery disputes. The final briefing on that is due this week.
September 30, 2022: After the EPA granted interim approval status to Paraquat in August 2021, allowing the herbicide to remain available pending a further safety review, a non-profit group in California took the agency to court to challenge the validity of that decision. This week, the EPA responded by requesting the Court to grant a voluntary remand to permit the EPA to reconsider the risk-benefit analysis that led to the prior approval decision. If granted, this request could eventually result in a decision by the EPA not to grant interim approval to Paraquat because it is unreasonably hazardous. Does this have huge Paraquat lawsuit implications? Of course it does.
September 15, 2022: Since the start of 2022, Paraquat has been the fastest-growing mass tort MDL. Over the last month (8/15/22 to 9/15/22) the number of pending Paraquat lawsuits in the Paraquat MDL went from 1,702 to 1,925. That’s an increase of 222 cases, but around 15 cases were either remanded back to state court or dismissed so the actual number of newly filed Paraquat Parkinson’s disease cases is even higher. Under the rules of the Paraquat MDL, new cases can be filed directly in the MDL in the Southern District of Illinois using the master pleading forms. This makes it hard to track where the new cases are coming from geographically. But the biggest numbers appear to be from California. The explosive growth of the Paraquat litigation recently forced the MDL class action judge to push back the bellwether trial dates and expand the discovery pool.
September 5, 2022: The Paraquat MDL Judge has selected a group of 20 additional cases from the MDL for limited fact discovery. The list was randomly generated out of more than 1,700 currently pending cases. This is a good development because it will help the defendants’ attorneys better understand how strong these claims are. This will be helpful when the lawyers sit down to negotiate settlement compensation payouts. The judge’s order requires that depositions of the plaintiffs in each of these cases must be concluded within 60 days and a report summarizing the plaintiff’s testimony must be provided to the Court. Meanwhile, the recent flood of new incoming Paraquat cases continues. Over the last 2 weeks, around 200 new Paraquat plaintiffs have been added to the MDL. The rising number of cases was cited by the MDL Judge as one of the reasons for the order requiring additional plaintiff depositions.
August 25, 2022: Unfortunately, we lost our trial date this year. The opening bellwether test trial in the Paraquat MDL had been set for November 2022. The second Paraquat trial was set for March 2023. The good thing about having trial dates is it places pressure on the defendants to settle or face a jury. The hope was these trial dates would force the defendants to offer reasonable settlement compensation to victims. Yesterday, MDL Judge Nancy Rosenstengel issued an Order pushing the first trial date back nine months to July 2023. Judge Rosenstengel made this decision after reviewing the status of discovery in the MDL and consulting with the Special Master.
August 16, 2022: Over the last month 255 new Paraquat cases were added to the MDL class action. So the Paraquat class action lawsuit is still growing. There are now 1,703 Paraquat lawsuits pending in the MDL.
July 20, 2022: The Paraquat MDL now has 1,148 plaintiffs as of July 15, 2022.
July 4th, 2022: The Paraquat class action lawsuit has been adding about 130 new plaintiffs each month to the MDL for the last year. During the last 30 days, 142 new Paraquat lawsuits were transferred into the federal class action. This brings the total number of pending cases up to 1,292. The question continues to be whether Syngenta and Chevron intend to offer fair Paraquat settlement amounts or whether they want to roll the dice and let a jury decide whether a compensation payout is appropriate. The bet here is they will look to settle most Paraquat lawsuits before taking a verdict. We will see.
June 9, 2022: The push to the first Paraquat lawsuit trial moves forward. The Paraquat MDL judge issued a Second Amended Discovery Schedule that provides a short, limited extension of the original discovery deadlines established for the six bellwether trial cases. Under the discovery order, the parties will have until July 25, 2022, to complete fact discovery and medical examinations. This extension of the original deadline became necessary after the number of fact witnesses made the completion of discovery more challenging. The short length of the extension, however, should ensure that we remain on schedule for the opening bellwether trials.
May 16, 2022: The first half of May shows record numbers of new Paraquat lawsuits being filed and added to the Paraquat MDL class action. Fifty-seven new Paraquat Parkinson’s disease cases were filed and transferred into the MDL during the first week of May. This is the highest weekly total to date. The second week of May saw another 35 new Paraquat lawsuits added to the MDL, making it the second-highest volume week. Overall, there are over 1,150 Paraquat plaintiffs in the Paraquat class action lawsuit. These Parkinson’s disease lawsuits have been consolidated from around the country before one federal judge in Illinois.
May 11, 2022: Maybe the best thing to happen in the Paraquat class action lawsuit occurred in another piece of mass tort litigation. Bayer has been pursuing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the Roundup lawsuits are preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”). The premise of the appeal is that if the EPA is allowing these pesticides to remain on the market, the federal law preempts any state law injury or wrongful death claims. The Supreme Court sought the Biden administration’s position on whether it should hear the appeal. The Biden administration filed a brief in the case arguing that FIFRA should not be interpreted to preempt Roundup product liability claims under state law. The appeal was always a long shot for Bayer. But Bayer had been using preemption as a sword in settlement negotiations and you can bet the Paraquat defendants would do the same. If the Supreme Court rejects Bayer’s FIFRA preemption argument as is now expected (why would they ask if the answer was not of consequence?), it will effectively prevent Syngenta and Chevron from making the same preemption argument in the Paraquat lawsuit.
May 4, 2022: The Paraquat MDL judge recently identified a group of six cases for the initial Paraquat Parkinson’s disease bellwether trials. So these cases are moving quickly toward the first trial in November 2022. The game plan is to take 16 sample Paraquat lawsuits out of the nearly 1000 Parkinson’s disease lawsuits that have been filed. After some limited fact discovery in these cases, Paraquat attorneys on both sides gave the MDL judge a preference list, ranking the 16 in terms of which case they most wanted to try first. Plaintiffs’ lawyers want the best facts for victims and defense attorneys want the worst. Based on these rankings, the judge winnowed the list down to six Paraquat lawsuits. We still don’t know which lawsuit will go first. But full discovery will now be conducted in these six potential “first Paraquat lawsuit” cases.
April 19, 2022: There are now 982 Paraquat lawsuits in the MDL class action. All allege Parkinson’s disease was caused by their Paraquat exposure.
April 12, 2022: The judge in the Paraquat MDL, Hon. Nancy Rosenstengel held the Paraquat class action lawsuit regular monthly status conference on April 1, 2022. Since then, Paraquat lawyers have filed 44 more Paraquat lawsuits in just 12 days. I don’t remember this many Paraquat lawsuits being filed in such a short span. It could just be lawyers holding back lawsuits and filing them all at once. This can lead to peaks and valleys of suits. But there is no question that lawsuits are continuing to be filed.
April 1, 2022: The status conference is today. Always of interest is the current size of the litigation and how many new cases were added to the Paraquat MDL class action lawsuit over the last month. Judge Rosenstengel may also dig deeper into the details regarding the upcoming bellwether trial selection process.
April 8, 2022: Paraquat has been banned in Fuji.

Older Paraquat News Updates

March 17, 2022: 16 initial bellwether cases have been identified. Eight of the cases were selected by the plaintiffs, and the other 8 were picked by the defendants. Fact discovery in these 16 cases will conclude at the end of the month and the MDL Judge has given the parties a deadline of April 8 for submitting their “rankings” in order of preference of which cases should be scheduled for trial.
As of March 1, 2022, there are 688 Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuits filed in the MDL class action. An estimated 75 Paraquat suits are pending in state court.
On February 16, 20