Paraquat Exposure Lawsuits: Here’s What You Need to Know

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Matt Dolman:

Welcome to another episode of the Sibley Dolman Gipe podcast. Today, I have my illustrious guest, Mike Furdock, who is our third year law clerk. Mike, it's a pleasure having you on the show today.

Mike Furdock:

Thank you, Matt. It's a pleasure to be here.

Matt Dolman:

So we're going to get right into it today. We're going to discuss what's considered the hottest mass tort out there right now. And by mass torts, these are lawsuits and it's usually a series of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of lawsuits brought against a manufacturer of a defective product, a defective medication, a defective device. In this case, it's Paraquat, which is an herbicide. Explain what Paraquat is.

Mike Furdock:

ically Paraquat came about in: 1961

Matt Dolman:

So it's an herbicide?

Mike Furdock:

It's an herbicide. Yeah. However, this herbicide is extremely toxic, toxic to the point to where not only does it obviously work really well to kill weeds, but it's obviously killing people, too. If you ingest this herbicide, you will have serious health problems immediately if you ingest too much of it. I'm talking very small amounts.

Matt Dolman:

So it's considered more dangerous in Roundup. I know it's been banned in 30 different countries.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. Now over 32 countries, it's been banned. The United States produces more than 10 million pounds of the year.

Matt Dolman:

Wow.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

So and unlike Roundup, per se, so Roundup, anyone could buy Roundup.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

Meaning you can order a Roundup on Amazon. We could have picked up a Roundup at numerous different outdoor stores like Lowe's or Home Depot or some outdoor store, where you can buy outdoor goods. This is different. So you need a license to spray this type of herbicide. So Paraquat is not something that your normal individual's going to get, your normal weekend warrior. So I would assume there's going to be a lot less volume with these type of cases.

Mike Furdock:

Correct. There's going to be a lot less volume of these type of cases. However, the exposure to it is still very high because when you have what's called, there are different types of drifts and over spray.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah. Tell me what's a drift and what's an over spray.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah. So what you have is a vapor drift. And a vapor drift, you would think that strong winds may blow this vapor from overspraying the product, and it would get into the air. People would inhale it, get into your skin. It's that powerful. Almost like some type of virus.

Matt Dolman:

So meaning if you live in a residence that's within close proximity of where it's being sprayed?

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

How far do these drifts go?

Mike Furdock:

Well, the vapor drift could go for more than one mile.

Matt Dolman:

Wow.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

And the particles, there are that much of a continued particle?

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. Now, the actual overs pray itself, the herbicide overspray itself; for example, if there's a pilot doing crop dusting work, flying over farmland and whatnot, he likely is going to be flying over residential land to get to that farmland or while leaving that farmland. And any overspray is going to trickle down into the air that way as well. So you have people that, if you live or go to school within a couple miles or right around an area of a farm or a major agricultural-

Matt Dolman:

Center.

Mike Furdock:

Center. Yep. You have the chance to be at risk of having ingested this at some point, even if it's trace amounts. And it's the trace amounts that are actually causing the problems. Because like I said-

Matt Dolman:

You live in a close approximate location to formula.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

You could have been exposed to this.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

How common is this being sprayed? Is this all over the 50 states?

Mike Furdock:

Right now, there's been 14 lawsuits filed in three states, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Mike Furdock:

But it's used pretty much in any of the main states that-

Matt Dolman:

You're using old data, by the way. It's now up to 86 lawsuits. And they've been consolidated. So that's where I come in. But we're going to, I'm going to catch you up with that up-dated information.

Mike Furdock:

Okay.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Mike Furdock:

86 lawsuits then.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Mike Furdock:

Okay. So's a lot. So then obviously it's not as rare as you'd think, especially because of the use of it. And yeah, it's actually used in pretty much, I would say every major agricultural setting in the country.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

Where they grow any type of crops.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

So which-

Matt Dolman:

And by the way, even my information's outdated. So this is how quick it's growing. It's now up to 157 lawsuits.

Mike Furdock:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah. With 68 of those filed in the last two weeks. So we have 157 lawsuits that are pending. So this is what's known as Multi-District Litigation, MDL. And for our viewers who don't understand what that means is, whenever we see it's similar to a class action, but a little bit different. Class actions have to have commonality where it's the same exact issue repeating over and over again and affecting the same claimants. Okay? Every claimant has the same basic common claim. This is a little bit different.

Matt Dolman:

Now, with multi-district litigation, what we're trying to do is we're trying to coordinate the litigation of thousands of lawsuits, which is alleged to be in the thousands. It's going to grow quickly. Into one courtroom in the country. One judge is going to oversee all the litigations. It consolidates, it makes it organized, and makes it a much more efficient process.

Matt Dolman:

And what will wind up happening is with this coordinated discovery and coordinated depositions, they'll eventually be what's known as bellwether trials. In every multi-district litigation, regardless of what it is, whether it's Roundup, in the past Accutane, PowerGuard, Morena, intrauterine device, there's a number of these different claims going on. We have what's known as bellwether cases, which is the plaintiff bar and the defense bar pick usually six to 12 cases that the fact patterns are diverse enough that they run the gamut of what we're going to see going forward.

Matt Dolman:

They basically give you a cross pattern of what you're going to see throughout the thousands of cases. And they try these cases. It gives everyone a flavor of what to expect going forward. So if either the 12 or nine to 12 go the plaintiff's way, they're more likely to get these cases settled than resolved.

Mike Furdock:

Of course.

Matt Dolman:

For thousands of claims. And if it goes defense bar's way, then, obviously, it's going to curtail future litigation. They're going to settle these cases for a lot less, sometimes even pennies on a dollar.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

That's happened with mass projects. And apparently the sign is pretty strong in this one.

Mike Furdock:

Science is extremely strong.

Matt Dolman:

It's banned in 30 countries.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah. In fact, the United States, not only do they require a license to spray it, what they do is they actually, when they make it, include a certain blue dye. Not only do they include a blue dye to distinguish it from other liquids, but they also give it a very strong pungent odor.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

So you should be able to see it and smell it. Now, if by chance, you still ingest it, they actually put a chemical inducing, vomiting component.

Matt Dolman:

I heard about that.

Mike Furdock:

In the Paraquat substance because they want, if you ingest Paraquat, you need to try and get it out of your system immediately.

Matt Dolman:

Sure.

Mike Furdock:

So that's why that's put in there.

Matt Dolman:

I'm asked what is Parkinson's disease. And we know Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder, as I discussed earlier. Take me through what are the different stages of Parkinson's disease? What does the average ... Because a lot of individuals don't know they're actually suffering the very beginning in the early stages of such. What are the indicators?

Mike Furdock:

Correct. Well, basically there's five stages of Parkinson's. Your first stage is going to be very mild, minor, motory symptoms that usually don't affect your everyday activities.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

Could be some changes in sleep. Could have some changes in posture or walking, but nothing noticeable to the fact that you start thinking, oh my God, I might have Parkinson's or do I have Parkinson's. Right?

Matt Dolman:

You might not realize you have a neurological disorder, you just have some issues and you're putting it off.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah.

Matt Dolman:

And so if you're located within close proximity, adjacent to farmland or an agricultural center, and you're noticing some mild tremors, what else would you notice? Is there any-

Mike Furdock:

I'd even say if you're noticing any mild tremors or potential side effects or symptoms of Parkinson's disease, I would say, obviously, get checked immediately, whether you live next to farmland or not. But you should definitely find out whether or not you may be starting to develop Parkinson's because there's not just that one stage, like I mentioned. There are four more. There's five total stages.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah. Go through them.

Mike Furdock:

So the symptoms after, in stage two, tremors begin to start occurring. So ... which is obviously a lot more serious. You start having rigid body movements. You can't sit still. Now, people could still live on their own with this, but life starts to become more difficult.

Matt Dolman:

You clearly have a neurological disorder going on.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. And it's-

Matt Dolman:

Whether or not it's Parkinson's. You have something that warrants.

Mike Furdock:

Yes.

Matt Dolman:

Which need to be checked.

Mike Furdock:

Yes, exactly. And should be checked. When you start to get to the third stage, they call it the mid stage.

Matt Dolman:

Yep.

Mike Furdock:

Right? Now you're going to start getting that loss of balance, that slowness and whatnot and movements. You have problems eating, directing the fork or spoon to your mouth because-

Matt Dolman:

I assume getting dressed will be an issue?

Mike Furdock:

Yes. Getting dressed will be an issue. Tying your shoes. Anything like that.

Matt Dolman:

Sure.

Mike Furdock:

Also, another thing, too, is you have a higher likelihood of falling.

Matt Dolman:

Yeah.

Mike Furdock:

Which causes other injuries.

Matt Dolman:

Yep.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. Which goes hand in hand with balance. And that's another thing. So ...

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

As they continue to worsen, basically, individuals, they may be able to stand without help, but any type of movement they want to do or need to do is going to be with either the help of a cane or walker.

Matt Dolman:

Okay.

Mike Furdock:

Or someone else helping them. And the scary part when you get to this stage is that you should no longer be living alone. It is not recommended.

Matt Dolman:

It's not safe.

Mike Furdock:

The fact that you can't really, it's not safe.

Matt Dolman:

Sure.

Mike Furdock:

At all.

Matt Dolman:

What's the fourth stage?

Mike Furdock:

That was the fourth stage.

Matt Dolman:

Oh. This half of this stage.

Mike Furdock:

Yep, yep.

Matt Dolman:

And the fifth stage is?

Mike Furdock:

Yep. The fifth stage is now this is where the most severe symptoms are going to occur. There's going to be stiffness in legs. It's almost impossible to walk or even stand up. That's how weak-

Matt Dolman:

Wheelchair bound.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah. That's how weak your muscles are and your motor skills are.

Matt Dolman:

It's sad.

Mike Furdock:

Yes, it is. And believe it or not, it also is going to, you could also have hallucinations too, that may occur and cause other issues. So it's a very scary thing. And if you have, start to get any of these symptoms in those early stages, again, regardless of whether you live next to farmland, you should get it checked out. Because even if you don't live next to farmland, maybe you're exposed in a different way.

Matt Dolman:

And there's a: 2017

Mike Furdock:

Yes. And there's been several studies.

Matt Dolman:

And we cite that on our website. There's a seven other studies that have been cited that indicate or create indicia of the link between Paraquat exposure and Parkinson's disease, so.

Mike Furdock:

Wow.

Matt Dolman:

We'll only learn through discovery. What does Syngenta know? What does Chevron USA know? Before, not only bringing this to market, but while they had this on at market, why didn't they pull us off when they knew that? This has been banned in 30 countries.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah. You're looking at a strict liability, product liability case.

Matt Dolman:

Correct.

Mike Furdock:

More or less.

Matt Dolman:

Yep.

Mike Furdock:

So at the end of the day, if you have, or have been diagnosed with Parkinson's or a loved one has that you know or somebody you know, call us.

Matt Dolman:

We want to see if there is a cause of link. Are you near an agricultural center? Do you live within close proximity or adjacent to farm land?

Mike Furdock:

It could contaminate water, too. The runoff, the soil-

Matt Dolman:

The aquifer.

Mike Furdock:

Yeah. It binds in the soil. It gets into the soil and could run off contaminating water. So now you're-

Matt Dolman:

I would assume there are thousands of cases of Parkinson's disease where individuals did not realize that they are-

Mike Furdock:

Exactly.

Matt Dolman:

There might be a link and they could have been exposed.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. Yeah. Because it could happen at any time, even from when they were younger. Once the smallest amounts of ingestion happen, potential problems start to occur. It immediately travels to the organs, liver, heart, kidney, lungs.

Matt Dolman:

Then you're chronically exposed over and over again.

Mike Furdock:

Yes. It's even worse.

Matt Dolman:

Now the defendants are Syngenta Corporation and Chevron USA, are the main manufacturers-

Mike Furdock:

Big ones.

Matt Dolman:

Of Paraquat, which sold under a bunch of different names. These cases now are being filed in the Southern District in Illinois. That's where it's all been put together. It's where the multi-district litigation class is. The question is how long is this going to go? But what I really want to discuss at this point is the causal link they're trying to display is between the use of Paraquat and Parkinson's disease. And Parkinson's disease, as we know, is a horrifying neurological disease. A lot of individuals out there know Michael J. Fox. And it quickly deteriorates your nervous system. And the effects are seen, they're crippling. And it's very pronounced and it's very quick. And there's no cure for Parkinson's disease. And right now they believe there's a strong, scientific link between the use of Paraquat or Paraquat exposure and the incidence, the onset of Parkinson's disease.

Matt Dolman:

And that's what we're looking for right now. We're investigating these cases nationwide. And in states where we're not licensed, we associate with local council to be in compliant with the local bar rules in each specific state. But we're handling these cases nationwide. And if you have any question, if you've been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, you or a loved one, or have any other health concerns or health issues related to the exposure of Paraquat.

Matt Dolman:

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