Paraquat Lawsuit Settlement Amounts: What to Expect in 2025?

Paraquat Lawsuit Settlement Status

Thousands of victims have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of Paraquat, Chevron and Syngenta. These lawsuits allege personal injuries and wrongful deaths from exposure to the herbicide.

There are typically two ways to pursue claims for exposure to toxic chemicals. A class action lawsuit is filed by a class representative. People with common claims can join the class. The class action constitutes a single case that could have thousands of members. Since it is a single case, it only has one trial, and the resolution of the case will apply to all the class members who do not opt out.

The other way to pursue claims against a manufacturer is to file individual claims. This is what happened with the Paraquat lawsuits. There is no class action against Chevron and Syngenta. Instead, thousands of victims have each filed separate lawsuits.

The federal courts have grouped the Paraquat lawsuits using a process called multi-district litigation (MDL). By putting in a single district under a single judge, the plaintiffs can gather evidence and prepare motions efficiently.

The MDL cases remain separate, but the parties and the court select bellwether cases to send to trial first. These cases give everyone the temperature of the claims and the damage awards. The hope is that everyone becomes more attuned to the possible range of settlements.

The Paraquat MDL has not had a bellwether trial yet. On the contrary, four of the bellwether cases selected by the parties were dismissed by the court on the eve of trial. The issue was the reliability of the testimony offered by the plaintiffs’ expert witness. While thousands of cases remain, the dismissal of the bellwether cases will delay the settlement of the Paraquat cases.

How Paraquat Exposure Is Linked to Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder that involves the motor system. It starts gradually and gets progressively worse. These are some of the main symptoms:

• Tremors (usually starting in the fingers and hands)
• Muscle stiffness that’s often painful
• Trouble with automatic movements like smiling or blinking
• Balance issues
• Slow movement
• Poor posture
• Changes in speech

There’s a significant body of research showing that Paraquat causes Parkinson’s. This is because it destroys human nerve cells in the same way it destroys plant cells.

Paraquat kills weeds by causing oxidative stress (a destructive imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants). This imbalance makes cells deteriorate and die. In humans, oxidative stress can cause nerve cells to degenerate and die, too.

Estimated Paraquat Settlement Amounts by Case Type

Because lawsuits against multiple Paraquat manufacturers are ongoing, there’s no way to reliably predict the settlement amounts victims of Paraquat might expect. However, if the settlements and verdicts in the Roundup lawsuit are any indication, plaintiffs might expect settlements anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of millions.

You also can use established legal principles and other mass tort settlements to guess what form a settlement could take.

In an MDL, the manufacturers can settle each case one by one. However, this approach takes time and often ends up costing more than settling all the cases at once. As a result, a settlement will likely take the form of a global settlement. Such a settlement happens when the manufacturers put money into a personal injury settlement fund for current and future claims.

The settlement agreement will create a process for disbursing money from the settlement fund. Typically, the claimants will not split the settlement fund equally. Instead, the agreement will likely create a tiered system that will distribute funds according to the claimant’s losses. Some factors that may be considered when categorizing claimants include the following:

Severity of Injury

The severity of the injury will be the most important factor used to determine the settlement tier. Terminal illnesses will qualify claimants for a higher tier than a survivable illness. Thus, those with Parkinson’s disease would get more than those with lung scarring.

Medical Expenses

Some medical conditions cost more than others. Victims with kidney failure might need an expensive transplant. Those with Parkinson’s might need a caretaker for the rest of their lives. Those with lung scarring might only need respiratory therapy.

The Science Behind Paraquat Risks

Many studies have found that Paraquat can contribute to Parkinson’s disease. However, the best-known one is a 2011 National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that found people who used Paraquat or rotenone (a similar chemical) were 2.5 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s than people who did not.

However, Paraquat isn’t just risky over the long term. If this chemical contacts the lining of your mouth (or if it reaches your stomach or intestines), it can spread through your body and destroy cells. If you come into contact with enough Paraquat at once, you may suffer organ failure or death.

Learn More About a Possible Paraquat Settlement From ConsumerShield

Paraquat has been tied to many medical conditions and health problems. But the gears of justice turn slowly. Meeting the evidentiary standards set by American courts will take time.

ConsumerShield is dedicated to educating people about their legal rights. We provide resources to help victims of Paraquat understand the status of ongoing litigations. We also connect claimants with a product liability attorney who can assess their claims and help them seek fair compensation from any settlement fund created by the manufacturers. Fill out our contact form for a free case evaluation.