Tillery
BELLEVILLE – St. Clair County Associate Judge Kevin Hoerner entered nine straight orders in favor of paraquat plaintiffs in preparation for a trial he would have started Monday, May 10.
The parties asked for a delay over the weekend, and Hoerner granted it.
In rulings from May 3 to May 6, he limited testimony of 17 defense experts and entirely excluded two.
He denied all defense motions for limits on testimony.
Farmers Carroll Rowan, Jerry Mills, Freemon Schmidt, and Ronald Niebrugge claim they suffer Parkinson’s disease from using paraquat to control weeds.
They seek damages from Syngenta Crop Protection and Growmark cooperative as suppliers, and Chevron USA as manufacturer.
Hoerner
A bench trial that had been set to start Monday in St. Clair County Associate Judge Kevin Hoerner s court on claims that weed killer paraquat caused four plaintiffs to suffer Parkinson’s disease has been continued to June 1.
While a motion for continuance and the order granting it are not yet posted on the court docket, Courtroom View Network (CVN) reported over the weekend that the case had been reset.
Defendant manufacturer Syngenta released a statement Monday afternoon saying the court and the parties have agreed to postpone the start of the trial to accommodate scheduling and logistical issues.
Tillery
BELLEVILLE – Stephen Tillery, ready for trial on a claim that weed killer paraquat caused four plaintiffs to suffer Parkinson’s disease, won the biggest judgment ever in an American trial and lost it at the Illinois Supreme Court.
In 2003, after a bench trial, late Madison County judge Nicholas Byron awarded more than $10 billion to a class of cigarette smokers Tillery represented.
The few American cases with higher judgments, such as state tobacco litigation in the 1990s and Deepwater Horizon explosion suits, ended in settlement.
Tillery retreated from the field of class actions after the state Supreme Court and Congress restricted them, though he has returned as ambitious as ever.
Tillery
BELLEVILLE Chevron and others that manufactured and distributed paraquat herbicide products are facing a suit alleging exposure to those products has led to Parkinson s disease.
John Parker, Leslie Stumpf and Arlene Stumpf filed a complaint April 16 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Syngenta Crop Protection LLC, Syngenta AG, Chevron U.S.A., Inc., and Growmark Inc., alleging strict product liability and negligence.
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that they regularly and frequently used the defendants products that contain paraquat, which is used to kill weeds and grasses prior to growing various fruit, vegetable and plantation crops. They allege they suffered Parkinson s disease as a result of their exposure to paraquat.
Hoerner
BELLEVILLE – Associate Judge Kevin Hoerner plans to hold St. Clair County’s first civil jury trial in a year for six clients of Stephen Tillery, who contributed $11,100 to Hoerner’s campaign for appellate judge in 2018.
Hoerner has set proceedings to begin April 12, on Tillery’s claim that weed killer paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease.
Five of his six plaintiffs don’t live in St. Clair County.
Tillery sued Syngenta, Growmark, and Chevron for 11 plaintiffs in 2017.
Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson assigned the suit to former judge Vincent Lopinot.
Gleeson stood for retention in 2018, and Tillery gave his campaign $10,000.
In December 2018, Lopinot retired and Gleeson assigned himself to the suit.