Syngenta Settles Paraquat Parkinson’s Lawsuit as Trial Was Set To Begin in Philadelphia

Company has resolved every Paraquat Parkinson’s case before trial and is engaged in settlement discussions involving more than 6,400 federal claims.

Syngenta has reportedly reached a settlement just ahead of the first bellwether trial in the Paraquat litigation, which was being closely watched to help gauge how juries may respond to claims that the manufacturer failed to warn that users of the herbicide may develop Parkinson’s disease.

The trial was set to begin this week in Philadelphia, involving a lawsuit brought by Bill Merten, who indicates he developed Parkinson’s disease after years of spraying Paraquat as part of his landscaping business.

Merten is one of thousands of individuals who have filed Paraquat lawsuits at both the state and federal levels, each raising similar allegations that Syngenta failed disclose the substantial risk of Parkinson’s disease that users may face, even when all of the recommended handling instructions are followed.

While no details of the Paraquat settlement agreement have yet been released, Syngenta reportedly paid more than $187 million to resolve a single multi-plaintiff claim in the past.

Paraquat was first introduced to the market in 1962 under the brand name Gramoxone. It is widely used nationwide to kill broadleaf weeds and grasses before planting numerous types of crops. It is also sometimes sprayed on plants during harvest to dry them out. However, the herbicide has been banned in many countries due to its extreme toxicity.

The herbicide has always been known to be extremely toxic if even a small amount is ingested, but additional concerns have emerged over the past few decades about the link between Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease, with reports suggesting that farm workers, landscapers and other individuals can be left with chronic and progressive neurological problems after routinely spraying, mixing or handling the herbicide.

Lawsuits now allege that the manufacturers knew about research into Paraquat’s Parkinson’s risk since at least as early as 2001, yet withheld information and warnings from users.

Given common facts and law connecting all Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuits, federal claims were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in June 2021 in the Southern District of Illinois, where U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

There are currently more than 6,400 claims pending in the federal court system. However, the parties announced in April 2025 that they were nearing a Paraquat Parkinson’s disease lawsuit settlement agreement in April 2025. As a result, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the litigation put a stay in place on all pretrial proceedings at the federal level.

Despite the talk of a Paraquat MDL settlement, thousands of state court claims like Merten’s have not been resolved, with trial dates expected to begin throughout 2026.

Merten’s case was highly anticipated, since Syngenta has previously settled other claims before they went before a jury. Details about the terms of this Paraquat Parkinson’s settlement have not been disclosed.

In the federal court system, where the litigation has been stayed for nearly a year, the parties have also not finalized terms of an agreement, and last month Judge Rosenstengal extended the Paraquat lawsuit stay until March 6, 2026.

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