What Is the Paraquat Lawsuit?
The paraquat lawsuit is a federal multidistrict litigation against Syngenta and Chevron over claims that exposure to the herbicide paraquat caused Parkinson's disease. The litigation, formally In re: Paraquat Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3004, was created by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on June 7, 2021, and sits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois before Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel.
An MDL is not a class action. It gathers individual lawsuits from many districts so that one judge can handle shared pretrial work, and each plaintiff still holds an individual claim. The Panel's creation order reported in 544 F. Supp. 3d 1373 (J.P.M.L. 2021) centralized fourteen actions pending in six districts, with 77 potentially related actions pending in sixteen districts at that time, and the Panel noted that paraquat has been used in the United States since 1964 to kill broadleaf weeds and grasses.
“The actions here involve common factual issues concerning the propensity of paraquat to cause Parkinson's Disease. This litigation likely will implicate complex scientific and regulatory issues.”
Source: U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, In re: Paraquat Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3004, Transfer Order, Document 149 (June 7, 2021)
Why Are People Filing Paraquat Lawsuits?
People are filing paraquat lawsuits because they developed Parkinson's disease after using, mixing or living near paraquat herbicide and allege the manufacturers failed to warn them of the risk. The plaintiffs in the first four trial-selection cases pleaded strict liability for design defect and failure to warn, negligence, breach of the warranty of merchantability and, in three of them, violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
The scientific question behind those claims is contested. Plaintiffs' law firms commonly cite a 2011 study drawing on the NIH-supported Agricultural Health Study that reported roughly 2.5 times higher odds of Parkinson's disease among paraquat users, and they point out that paraquat is reported to be banned in more than 70 countries. Syngenta denies any link between paraquat and Parkinson's disease, and the Environmental Protection Agency has said the weight of evidence does not establish one.
Paraquat remains legal for restricted agricultural use in most of the United States. The EPA classifies it as a restricted use pesticide that only certified applicators may use, which is why many claimants are farm workers, landscapers and others who handled it for work.
What Injuries Are Included in the Paraquat Lawsuit?
The injuries included in the paraquat lawsuit center on one alleged medical injury, Parkinson's disease, together with the product-liability theories plaintiffs use to hold manufacturers responsible for it. The defendants deny the claims, and none of the sources reviewed reported a verdict on whether paraquat causes Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement, often beginning with tremor, stiffness or slowed motion.
Plaintiffs allege that repeated exposure to paraquat, by mixing, loading or spraying it or by living near treated fields, caused them to develop Parkinson's disease years later. Plaintiffs' filings cite research on oxidative stress and damage to dopamine-producing nerve cells as the proposed biological pathway, and that pathway is the heart of the general-causation dispute in the litigation.
Failure to Warn
A failure-to-warn claim alleges that a manufacturer knew or should have known about a risk and did not adequately tell users about it.
The failure-to-warn theory is the one most paraquat complaints lead with. Plaintiffs allege the product labels did not tell applicators about a Parkinson's risk, and in February 2026 the defendants asked the court to rule against all failure-to-warn claims. The defendants have also argued that federal pesticide law preempts state-law warning claims, an argument plaintiffs dispute.
Design Defect
A design-defect claim alleges that a product is unreasonably dangerous because of how it was made, even when it is used as directed.
The design-defect claim targets the paraquat formulation itself. The defendants answered the claim in the first trial-selection cases by arguing that paraquat is the characteristic ingredient of the herbicide, so a version without it would be a different product.
Negligence
Negligence is a legal claim that someone failed to use reasonable care and that failure caused harm to another person.
Plaintiffs allege the manufacturers and distributors failed to use reasonable care in how they researched, labeled and sold paraquat, a claim the defendants deny. One of the four first trial-selection plaintiffs, Mr. Coward, also sought punitive damages.
Who Qualifies for the Paraquat Lawsuit?
You may qualify if:
- You personally used, mixed, loaded or sprayed paraquat, or lived or worked near fields where it was applied, and can document that exposure
- You were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by a movement disorder specialist or neurologist, with the diagnosis meeting the timing and documentation rules described in the evidence section below
- Your claim was filed or can still be timely filed under the statute of limitations of the state whose law applies to your paraquat use
You may not qualify if:
- You have no Parkinson's disease diagnosis, since MDL 3004 is built around that single injury
- You were diagnosed fewer than ten years after your first exposure, a gap the court's current documentation rule treats as a problem for non-settling and new plaintiffs
- You cannot show personal use of a paraquat product, or no witness can describe your use, because use documentation is a threshold requirement for those same plaintiffs
- The deadline to file your claim has passed in your state, which only a licensed attorney can confirm
MDL 3004 consolidates individual cases for pretrial proceedings, so it is not a certified class action and there is no automatic class membership. The 2025 Master Settlement Agreement covers cases already pending, and some firms report they are no longer accepting new paraquat clients. Only a qualified attorney reviewing your records can confirm whether you have an eligible claim.
What Is the Current Status of the Paraquat MDL?
The current status of the paraquat MDL is that MDL 3004 remains pending in the Southern District of Illinois while a 2025 Master Settlement Agreement is implemented and plaintiffs who declined it are managed under new court orders. The Judicial Panel's report dated October 1, 2026 listed 6,602 pending actions, and the court's own docket page showed no upcoming deadlines as of early October 2026.
In re: Paraquat Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3004
The federal track proceeds before Chief Judge Rosenstengel under case number 3:21-md-3004-NJR. The first bellwether cases ended in April 2024, when the court excluded the testimony of Dr. Martin Wells, plaintiffs' only general-causation expert, and then granted summary judgment to Syngenta and Chevron in four trial-selection cases (Richter, Fuller, Burgener and Coward). Plaintiffs appealed that ruling to the Seventh Circuit, and the sources reviewed did not report an outcome.
A second round of bellwether cases was heading toward a first trial in October 2025 when the court stayed case-specific deadlines in May 2025 so the parties could finalize a global settlement. The stay was extended repeatedly after that, and the latest extension in the materials reviewed is the court's December 30, 2025 order, which pushed it to March 6, 2026.
| Court | U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois (federal MDL) |
| MDL Number | 3004 |
| Case Number | 3:21-md-3004-NJR |
| Judge | Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel |
| MDL Created | June 7, 2021 |
| Actions Now Pending | 6,602, per the JPML's October 1, 2026 report |
| Actions Filed Since Creation | 8,495, per the same report |
| Defendants | Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, Syngenta AG and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Master Settlement Agreement | Signed in 2025, dated August 4, 2025 in Case Management Order No. 25 and September 3, 2025 in Case Management Order No. 24 |
| Special Master | Randi Ellis |
| Current Stage | Settlement implementation, opt-out meetings and limited discovery in opt-out cases |
The court's orders treat the settlement as a program that eligible plaintiffs opt into. Case Management Order No. 24, entered April 8, 2026, required settlement administrators to report which plaintiffs did not qualify, which opted out and which had not decided, and directed Special Master Ellis to meet with each of them. Case Management Order No. 25, entered June 12, 2026, then set the evidence requirements for anyone who opts out, was found ineligible or files a new case.
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Paraquat Program
A separate state-court proceeding in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Complex Litigation Center runs on its own docket and its own schedule, apart from the federal MDL. Plaintiffs' counsel Motley Rice reported 2,080 pending paraquat lawsuits there in October 2026, and a first bellwether trial that was scheduled for January 2026 settled the night before it was to begin, on January 27.
| Court | Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Complex Litigation Center |
| Track | State-court mass tort program, not part of MDL 3004 |
| Pending Cases | 2,080, as reported by Motley Rice for October 2026 |
| First Bellwether Trial | Settled January 27, 2026, the night before trial |
| Venue Ruling | In October 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of Syngenta's challenge to Pennsylvania's consent-by-registration jurisdiction, per Motley Rice |
Syngenta and Chevron have repeatedly asked to move cases out of Philadelphia, and Plaintiffs' counsel reported in June 2026 that the court rejected a similar request in 2025.
How Much Are the Paraquat Lawsuit Settlement Amounts?
The paraquat lawsuit settlement amounts have not been made public, and the Master Settlement Agreement signed in 2025 does not disclose a total or per-plaintiff figure in any court order reviewed. Drugwatch reported on October 9, 2026 that no final global settlement had been announced and that no terms had been made public.
Any dollar figure or payout range quoted by a law firm is an estimate, not an official number. Individual payouts depend on the settlement matrix tier each plaintiff is assigned and on the facts of the claim, and only a qualified attorney can estimate what a specific claim might be worth.
The court's April 8, 2026 order shows each eligible plaintiff has an assigned settlement matrix tier and a settlement offer, and that the administrators track total dollar amounts allocated separately for plaintiffs who opted in, who opted out and who have not decided. Drugwatch reports that factors such as illness severity, age and length of paraquat exposure determine each share.
The paraquat lawsuit has no final settlement date. The Master Settlement Agreement was signed in 2025, a court-supervised fund was reportedly created in March 2026 to hold the settlement money while individual payouts are calculated, and the opt-out phase was still being managed in October 2026. If the settlement falls short of the participation it needs, the court is expected to revive bellwether trials, according to the plaintiffs' firm TorHoerman Law.
Signing a settlement is not an admission of liability. Syngenta continues to deny that paraquat causes Parkinson's disease, and says it will keep contesting claims that proceed outside the settlement.
Paraquat Lawsuit Updates
Here are the latest Paraquat lawsuit updates, covering new court filings, rulings, and case-count reports as they're confirmed. MDL 3004, the federal paraquat Parkinson's disease litigation continues in active pretrial proceedings as of October 2026, with no global settlement reached. The timeline below tracks every confirmed development from the first filing forward.
Full Paraquat Lawsuit Timeline
Court sets a November hearing for one firm's opt-out cases
Chief Judge Rosenstengel's October 15, 2026 order set a status conference for November 5, 2026 at the East St. Louis courthouse on one plaintiffs' attorney's opt-out cases in MDL 3004, requiring that attorney and leadership counsel to appear in person and arranging video access for that attorney's clients.
Pending federal paraquat cases fall to 6,602
The Judicial Panel's October 1, 2026 report listed 6,602 actions pending in MDL 3004 out of 8,495 filed historically, a decline from 6,666 pending a month earlier, and the report does not state why the pending count fell.
Investigation reports Syngenta did not share some paraquat findings with the EPA
The Guardian and The New Lede reported on September 28, 2026 that Syngenta acknowledged it did not tell the EPA about a Mexican agency finding linking paraquat exposure to Parkinson's disease, and did not share the results of two internal animal studies from the early 2000s. Syngenta says there is no link between paraquat and Parkinson's disease, and the EPA says it has not found a clear link between regular use and the disease.
MDL 3004 holds nearly flat at 6,666 pending cases
The Judicial Panel's September 1, 2026 report showed 6,666 pending actions in the paraquat MDL, one more than in the August report, as new filing activity stayed largely stalled while the settlement process continued.
Case Management Order No. 25 sets evidence rules for plaintiffs outside the settlement
Judge Rosenstengel's June 12, 2026 order requires plaintiffs who opt out of the Master Settlement Agreement, who are ineligible for it, or who file new cases to meet with Special Master Randi Ellis and to produce fact sheets, medical record summaries, use documentation, witness affidavits, Parkinson's diagnosis records and case-specific expert reports, with dismissal with prejudice possible for noncompliance.
Court orders limited discovery into high opt-out rates
In orders dated June 2 and June 3, 2026, the court selected roughly ten percent of opt-out cases from several firms for plaintiff fact sheets, depositions and limited third-party discovery, after observing that more than 90 percent of eligible clients of two firms had declined settlement offers.
Vermont becomes the first state to ban paraquat
Governor Phil Scott signed Vermont Act 112 on May 26, 2026, which bars paraquat sales and use unless the state agriculture secretary authorizes them, takes effect November 1, 2026, and allows tree fruit and berry growers to apply for permits through December 31, 2030.
Special Master Ellis gains access to settlement data
Case Management Order No. 24, filed April 8, 2026 as Document 5808, required settlement administrators to give Special Master Randi Ellis lists of plaintiffs who did not qualify, opted out or remained undecided, along with each plaintiff's matrix tier and offer.
Syngenta announces it will stop making paraquat
Syngenta announced on March 3, 2026 that it would end global paraquat production by the end of June 2026 and stop selling Gramoxone when current supplies run out or by December 31, 2026, citing competition from smaller manufacturers, according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other reports.
First Philadelphia paraquat bellwether trial settles on the eve of trial
The first paraquat bellwether trial in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, in which Motley Rice attorney Mike Daly served as local trial counsel, settled on January 27, 2026, the night before it was scheduled to begin.
EPA administrator announces a reassessment of paraquat's safety
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin posted on January 9, 2026 that the agency would reassess paraquat's safety, although an EPA spokesperson later told The New Lede that no new assessment was being started.
Stay on case-specific deadlines extended to March 6, 2026
Chief Judge Rosenstengel extended the stay on case-specific deadlines in MDL 3004 until March 6, 2026 on December 30, 2025, saying the pause would allow the settlement process to unfold and canceling the January 5, 2026 status conference.
Judge orders a plaintiffs' attorney to explain a plan to encourage opt-outs
On October 6, 2025 the court ordered a plaintiffs' attorney who had resigned from the plaintiffs' executive committee to appear on October 14, 2025 to explain a planned video conference for other plaintiffs' lawyers, saying the court would not permit counsel to undermine the judicially supervised settlement process.
Master Settlement Agreement executed, according to the court
Case Management Order No. 24 states that co-lead plaintiffs' counsel and the defendants executed the Master Settlement Agreement for Certain Individual Claims and Actions Involving Paraquat Products on September 3, 2025, while Case Management Order No. 25 dates the same agreement August 4, 2025.
MDL 3004 reaches 6,354 pending cases
The Judicial Panel's July 1, 2025 report counted 6,354 pending actions in the paraquat MDL, up from 6,159 a month earlier, the largest one-month increase among the Panel reports reviewed for 2025.
Panel notes the MDL parties are on the cusp of settlement
A June 10, 2025 Judicial Panel order transferring one more case into MDL 3004 noted that the parties appeared to be on the cusp of settlement, following the court's May 2025 stay of case-specific discovery deadlines in the second set of bellwether cases after it was advised that a global settlement had been agreed to in principle.
Pending paraquat cases total 5,825 at the start of 2025
On January 2, 2025 the Judicial Panel reported 5,825 pending actions in MDL 3004, slightly below the 5,835 counted in its December 2, 2024 report.
Pending case count reaches 5,883
The October 1, 2024 Panel report showed 5,883 paraquat cases pending, up from 5,051 in January 2024, and the count stayed between roughly 5,800 and 5,900 through the end of that year.
Court excludes plaintiffs' general-causation expert and ends the first four bellwether cases
On April 17, 2024 Chief Judge Rosenstengel excluded the testimony of Dr. Martin Wells, plaintiffs' sole general-causation expert, and granted summary judgment to Syngenta and Chevron in the Richter, Fuller, Burgener and Coward trial-selection cases, which plaintiffs did not dispute was fatal to those four claims once the testimony was excluded.
Judicial Panel counts 5,051 pending paraquat actions
The Panel's January 2, 2024 report listed 5,051 actions pending in MDL 3004, the earliest monthly figure in the Panel's currently available archive.
Court selects six cases for case-specific discovery
On April 13, 2022 the court chose six individual member cases for case-specific discovery, and four of them later became the first set of trial-selection cases.
Advocacy groups petition the Ninth Circuit to review the EPA's paraquat decision
The California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other groups filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit on September 24, 2021, challenging the EPA's Paraquat Dichloride Interim Registration Review Decision, which the agency had signed on July 13, 2021. That petition is a separate regulatory challenge, not part of MDL 3004.
Judicial Panel creates MDL 3004 in the Southern District of Illinois
The Panel's June 7, 2021 order centralized paraquat Parkinson's disease actions in the Southern District of Illinois before Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel, citing Illinois's rank among the top five states in paraquat use and the state-court paraquat cases already proceeding there.
How to File a Paraquat Lawsuit
These 6 steps outline how to file a Paraquat lawsuit.
- Confirm your diagnosis: Gather the medical records that show a Parkinson's disease diagnosis, ideally from a neurologist or movement disorder specialist, since the diagnosis is the injury MDL 3004 is built around.
- Document your paraquat exposure: Collect purchase records, employer or farm records, pesticide license information and the names of coworkers or family members who saw you handle or work near paraquat.
- Check your filing deadline: Statutes of limitations vary by state and generally depend on when you learned or should have learned of a possible link, so ask an attorney to confirm the deadline that applies to you.
- Ask whether the firm is accepting paraquat cases: Because the 2025 settlement covers cases already pending, some firms have stopped taking paraquat clients, so confirm in writing that a firm is still accepting new claims.
- Understand the court's requirements for new filers: A plaintiff filing a new case in MDL 3004 must comply with Case Management Order No. 25, which an attorney can walk through before you decide whether to proceed.
- Consult a qualified paraquat attorney: A licensed attorney reviewing your records can confirm whether your claim is eligible, which court is appropriate and what the cost and risk of proceeding would be.
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What Evidence Do You Need for a Paraquat Lawsuit?
Evidence for a paraquat lawsuit centers on proof of personal paraquat use and a documented Parkinson's disease diagnosis, because the court's Case Management Order No. 25 requires both from plaintiffs who proceed outside the settlement. The order, entered June 12, 2026, applies to plaintiffs who opt out of the settlement, whose cases are ineligible for it, or who file new cases in MDL 3004.
- Diagnosis records: a medical record showing Parkinson's disease was first diagnosed no earlier than ten years after the first year of alleged paraquat exposure, made by a movement disorder specialist or, where none practices reasonably near the plaintiff, a licensed neurologist, and an ICD or billing code alone is not accepted as proof.
- Use documentation: materials showing personal paraquat use, sorted by whether the use occurred in recent years, between 1995 and 2014, or only before 1995, with California pesticide-use reports required for any use in California after 1974.
- Witness affidavits: a sworn statement from anyone who saw the plaintiff use paraquat, covering where it was obtained, the years and frequency of use, the equipment and protective gear used, and whether the witness knows the product was made by a defendant.
- Fact sheet and medical summary: a Plaintiff Fact Sheet signed under penalty of perjury and a summary of pertinent medical records attested by counsel.
- Expert report: a case-specific causation report that identifies exposure level, duration and routes, confirms the diagnosis and rules out alternative causes of Parkinson's disease.
New filers must also serve an affidavit on the dates they first learned of a possible paraquat link and first spoke with or retained an attorney, which is how the court screens for statute-of-limitations problems.
What Did Syngenta and Chevron Allegedly Know About Paraquat Risks?
Plaintiffs allege that Syngenta and Chevron knew or should have known that paraquat could be linked to Parkinson's disease and failed to warn applicators. Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, Syngenta AG and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. are the named defendants in MDL 3004, and plaintiffs' firms name Gramoxone among the paraquat products involved.
The defendants deny the allegations, and the EPA's 2024 position, as reported by The New Lede and E&E News, has been that the weight of evidence is insufficient to link paraquat exposure to Parkinson's disease in humans. The table below lists the regulator and company events that bear on the knowledge question.
| Event | Actor | Date | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paraquat in U.S. use as a herbicide | Manufacturers and distributors | Since 1964 | Used to kill broadleaf weeds and grasses before crop planting or emergence, per the Judicial Panel |
| Reassessment announced | EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin | January 9, 2026 | Agency said it would reassess paraquat's safety, and an EPA spokesperson later said no new assessment was starting |
| Production wind-down announced | Syngenta | March 3, 2026 | Said it would end global paraquat production by June 2026, citing competition from smaller manufacturers |
| Investigation into disclosures to the EPA | The Guardian and The New Lede | September 28, 2026 | Reported that Syngenta did not tell the EPA about a Mexican agency finding and two internal animal studies, which Syngenta disputes |
Allegations about what a defendant knew are claims, not findings. No court has ruled that Syngenta or Chevron concealed a Parkinson's risk, and Syngenta has said its decision to stop making paraquat was based on market factors.
How Does the Paraquat Lawsuit Compare to Related Cases?
The paraquat lawsuit in MDL 3004 differs from three related proceedings that share the product or the parties but not the docket. The Philadelphia state-court program, described in the case status section above, is the closest sibling, since it covers the same Parkinson's allegations on a separate track.
The 2021 petition filed by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and other groups against the EPA is a different kind of case altogether. It asked the Ninth Circuit to review the agency's registration decision rather than to award damages to injured people, so it concerns how paraquat is regulated rather than what any plaintiff in MDL 3004 recovers, and the sources reviewed did not report its outcome.
| Proceeding | Court | What It Covers | Relationship to MDL 3004 |
|---|---|---|---|
| In re: Paraquat Products Liability Litigation | U.S. District Court, S.D. Illinois | Federal Parkinson's disease product-liability claims against Syngenta and Chevron | This page's main case |
| Paraquat mass tort program | Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas | State-court Parkinson's claims, with Syngenta, Chevron and FMC Corp. named as defendants in reported filings | Separate docket and schedule |
| California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation v. EPA | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | Petition to review the EPA's 2021 paraquat interim registration review decision | Regulatory challenge, no damages claims |
| In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2741 | U.S. District Court, N.D. California | Separate federal herbicide litigation before Judge Vince Chhabria | Different product and injury, listed alongside MDL 3004 in the Panel's report |
A plaintiff who proceeds in the Philadelphia program is not part of the federal settlement process described above, and the two tracks do not share case counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the paraquat lawsuit about?
The paraquat lawsuit is about claims that exposure to the herbicide paraquat caused Parkinson's disease. Plaintiffs, many of them farm workers and landscapers, sued Syngenta and Chevron, and the federal cases are consolidated as MDL 3004 in the Southern District of Illinois. The defendants deny any causal link.
Is the paraquat lawsuit a class action or an MDL?
The paraquat lawsuit is a federal multidistrict litigation, MDL 3004, and not a certified class action. An MDL consolidates individual cases for shared pretrial proceedings, so each plaintiff keeps an individual claim and any settlement runs through an opt-in program rather than automatic class membership.
Has the paraquat lawsuit settled?
The paraquat lawsuit has a Master Settlement Agreement signed in 2025, but it has not fully resolved the litigation. The agreement is still being implemented, plaintiffs who declined it are being managed under Case Management Order No. 25, and the settlement amounts have not been made public.
Can I still join the paraquat lawsuit?
Joining the paraquat lawsuit is still possible in principle, because the Panel's historical filing count kept rising through October 2026, but the settlement covers cases already pending and some firms report they are no longer accepting new clients. New filers must meet the evidence requirements of Case Management Order No. 25, and only a qualified attorney can confirm eligibility.
Is the Philadelphia paraquat lawsuit part of the federal MDL?
The Philadelphia paraquat lawsuit is not part of the federal MDL. It is a separate state-court mass tort program in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas with its own docket, schedule and case count, and Motley Rice reported 2,080 pending cases there in October 2026.
Has paraquat been banned in the United States?
Paraquat has not been banned nationwide in the United States, but Vermont Act 112, signed May 26, 2026, makes Vermont the first state to ban it, effective November 1, 2026. The EPA still allows restricted agricultural use, and Syngenta announced in March 2026 that it would end paraquat production by June 2026.