James Heller, chair of Cozen O'Connor's Product Liability Practice, was quoted in a Law360 article examining several significant Pennsylvania cases to follow through the remainder of 2026, including the Philadelphia paraquat mass tort litigation. The article highlighted the first expected paraquat trial in Philadelphia and the potential impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Monsanto v. Durnell on the litigation. 

James explained that the Supreme Court's ruling, which held that certain state law failure-to-warn claims are preempted by federal law, could significantly influence the direction of the paraquat cases. He noted that the decision may encourage the parties to pursue settlements while they assess how the ruling affects existing claims and litigation strategies. James stated, “I think because of Durnell, this case is likely to settle because the parties need to figure out how to use or get around Durnell.”

He further observed that defendants are expected to rely on the decision to advance preemption arguments because of similarities between the labeling allegations in the Roundup and paraquat litigations, while claims involving the design and manufacture of paraquat remain unaffected by the ruling. Discussing how plaintiffs may respond, James said, “Given the recency of the Durnell decision, assuming they can get a sum of money they can live with, they probably want to buy some time to figure out the best arguments around Durnell.” He suggested that settling near-term cases may be the most practical approach for plaintiffs while attorneys assess the decision's implications and determine how best to address Durnell going forward.

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