Paraquat Parkinson's Disease Lawsuits Will Be Consolidated

Multidistrict litigation (MDL) is an essential process for mass tort litigation involving complex scientific issues

Saturday, June 12, 2021 - Multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases involve plaintiffs with similar personal injuries from using the same product, medical device, or taking the same drug. They are not a class-action lawsuit. Each plaintiff will be heard separately or in small groups. They are organized into MDL to eliminate having to repeat administrative court procedures and discovery hundred of times. MDL saves all of the parties thousands of hours and also millions in aggregate court costs. MDL allows a federal judge to conduct hearings into the efficacy of the science that underlies the claims. An MDL judge may call for Daubert hearings where both the plaintiffs and defense call their experts to explain their take on the science underlying their position. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs are selected from the overall pool to reflect the characteristics of the plaintiffs. Paraquat Parkinson Disease Lawsuits Will Be Consolidated

Multidistrict litigation (MDL) is an essential process for mass tort litigation involving complex scientific issues.

Multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases involve plaintiffs with similar personal injuries from using the same product, medical device, or taking the same drug. They are not a class-action lawsuit. Each plaintiff will be heard separately or in small groups. They are organized into MDL to eliminate having to repeat administrative court procedures and discovery hundred of times. MDL saves all of the parties thousands of hours and also millions in aggregate court costs. MDL allows a federal judge to conduct hearings into the efficacy of the science that underlies the claims. An MDL judge may call for Daubert hearings where both the plaintiffs and defense call their experts to explain their take on the science underlying their position. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs are selected from the overall pool to reflect the characteristics of the plaintiffs.

Yesterday, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided that paraquat herbicide lawsuits filed around the country will be included in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) group in the Southern District of Illinois to be presided over by Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel. Hundreds of plaintiffs, farmers mostly, but also individuals that live or work near neighboring farms that spray paraquat, are expected to come forward and claim that coming into contact with paraquat weed killer regularly for a time has caused them to develop Parkinson's disease, a deadly neurological disorder.

Lawsuits seek compensatory and punitive damages for their suffering due to the negligence and fraud of Syngenta and Chevron, the makers of the deadly defoliant. The companies are accused of knowing or having an obligation to know of the scientific studies that point to a link between inhaling paraquat and developing severe neurological damage. Paraquat usage has skyrocketed over the past decade as has the number of people that have developed Parkinson's disease. Researchers think that there is a link between the two because the exponential increase in Parkinson's disease could not have been caused by human genetic evolution, and therefore must be due to an environmental change. Such a drastic environmental change could only be caused by applying herbicide and pesticide to farm crops in massive quantities.

Paraquat Parkinson's disease lawsuits are by farmers that have used paraquat to replace glyphosate when weeds grew resistant to the latter herbicide. Most farmers with Parkinson's disease used the product for decades. New York Legal examiner describes one such case as follows. "After using the herbicide for years, he (the plaintiff) was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. According to the Missouri complaint, the plaintiff was regularly exposed to paraquat for about 40 years-between 1965 and 2005-via direct exposure, pesticide drift, and contamination of drinking water." In addition to farmworkers that have used paraquat, people living and working near farms that used paraquat are also developing Parkinson's disease from paraquat drifting in the air and landing on their community. A Tennessee woman claims to have developed Parkinson's disease by inhaling paraquat that drifted from a nearby farm onto her community.

Lawyers for Paraquat Lawsuits

Attorneys handling Paraquat Lawsuits for leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma offer free, no-obligation case review for individuals and families who believe they may have grounds to file a paraquat Parkinson's lawsuit. Working on a contingency basis, these attorneys are committed to never charging legal fees unless they win compensation in your paraquat Parkinson's lawsuit. The product liability litigators handling Roundup claims at the Onder Law Firm have a strong track record of success in representing families harmed by dangerous drugs and consumer products.