Paraquat Lawsuits on the Rise as Toxic Exposure Victims Seek Justice

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on April 19, 2021

On March 25, 2021, one of the first in a long line of personal injury and product liability lawsuits to be brought against Switzerland-based Syngenta Group and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC was filed in the Northern District of California on behalf of former agricultural worker Paul Rakoczy who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015 after he was “exposed to and absorbed, ingested and inhaled paraquat while applying the herbicide in Long Beach, California” between 2013-2017, the lawsuit states.

The official court documents allege that both companies – the primary manufacturers of paraquat-based weed killers – were fully aware of the devastating health effects that paraquat herbicides posed to individuals who had long-term contact with the toxic chemical, yet they continued to produce and distribute the deadly weed killer for decades without ever informing the public of its dangers.

Commonly called the “napalm of herbicides,” the powerful and popular weed killer paraquat has recently found itself at the center of multiple lawsuits after a number of alarming and eye-opening reports from multiple medical and scientific professionals have directly tied long-term exposure to the toxic substance with a laundry list of life-threatening illnesses, including Parkinson’s disease.

Paraquat was originally created for the commercial agriculture industry as a means to easily eradicate any residual crops, grass, weeds, or overgrown vegetation that may have been left behind from the previous planting season. Now, after decades of usage and exposure to this incredibly toxic and deadly chemical, farmers, croppers, and land cultivators have started to experience a range of debilitating and life-changing medical diagnoses, including the progressive nervous system disorder Parkinson’s disease. Other ailments include:

• Heart failure
• Kidney failure
• Liver failure
• Neurodegenerative diseases and dementias
• Pulmonary edema & pulmonary fibrosis
• Respiratory failure

If you are a current or former employee of the agricultural and farming industry that was regularly exposed to paraquat-based weed killers, you may be entitled to compensation. Here at the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham, P.A., we are now accepting cases on behalf of individuals who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses, including Parkinson’s disease, due to long-term paraquat exposure. For additional information regarding paraquat lawsuits, please contact us today at 877-FL-INJURY to schedule a free 30-minute case evaluation.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.