Litigation Overview

Atrazine is the subject of litigation on both the federal and state levels.  In this section you will find court filings from both the federal and the state lawsuits.

In 2004, law firms based in Missouri and Texas filed six putative class action complaints in Illinois’ Third Judicial Circuit Court in Madison County.  The named plaintiff is Holiday Shores Sanitary District, a community water system 10 miles north of Edwardsville, Illinois.  These are state law Illinois atrazine cases, collectively referred to as “the Holiday Shores cases.”

In 2010, the same attorneys filed a putative class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, with the City of Greenville, Illinois, as its named plaintiff.  This federal lawsuit is referred to as the “Greenville” case.

The Holiday Shores cases are cookie cutter lawsuits against six companies that, according to plaintiffs, manufacture, formulate or market products containing atrazine.  Growmark, an agricultural products distributor with operations in Illinois, which does not manufacture atrazine, is named co-defendant in all the lawsuits.

All of the lawsuits – the Holiday Shores cases and Greenville — falsely claim that exposure to atrazine at any level is harmful to human health. In fact, EPA continuously reviews all relevant science regarding atrazine — and it continues to allow atrazine use in accordance with label instructions and other regulatory safeguards.

While Holiday Shores and Greenville certify their water’s safety in official state and federal filings, and sell that water to their constituents, their lawsuits seek class-action remedies, financial penalties and payment for water filtration based on their water being harmful to human health.

In fact, plaintiffs supply their residents with drinking water that meets strict federal and state safety standards, while saying in court that same water is unsafe.  Plaintiffs’ attorneys would share in any judgment awarded.