Latest Developments, Week of October 12, 2026

Mass torts

• SettledBellwether 3

  Uber Sexual Assault · MDL 3084

  Uber settled the third federal bellwether, brought by a Texas plaintiff, as the trial was set to start October 5. Terms were not disclosed.

  Bloomberg Law · Oct 5

• StayedMissouri

  Talcum Powder

  A Missouri judge stayed ovarian cancer talc cases while Johnson & Johnson's proposed settlement, announced July 28 at an estimated $5.5 billion, works toward the 95% claimant approval it needs to become final.

  Mealey's · Oct 8 · Deal terms: NBC News

State personal injury, largest first

• $84MMN · Verdict

  Hennepin County jury, wrongful death, over a hospital system's alleged failure to investigate a patient's chest pain.

  Minnesota Lawyer · Oct 9

• $65MCO · Verdict

  Larimer County jury awards the 14-year-old son of a woman killed when concrete fell from a hauled excavator that struck an I-25 bridge in 2022.

  Denver7 · Oct 5

• $50MMO · Verdict

  Polk County jury, emotional and psychological injury from childhood physical and sexual abuse.

  Missouri Lawyers Media · Oct 6

• $11.3MNY · Verdict

  Manhattan jury orders Riverside Church to pay a former player in its basketball program for abuse decades ago.

  Rolling Stone · Oct 7

• $9MMO · Settlement

  Family of a woman who drowned in a pool settles its wrongful death claim against the pool's owner.

  Missouri Lawyers Media · Oct 7

• $4.4MWV · Settlement

  West Virginia settles with five adopted siblings abused in Sissonville after failures by child protective services.

  WV News · Oct 6

• $3MMO · Settlement

  Driver with spinal injuries and several surgeries after a rear-end crash on Route 47.

  Missouri Lawyers Media · Oct 8

• $2.6MVA · Settlement

  An 83-year-old pedestrian hit by a car that lost control.

  Virginia Lawyers Weekly · Oct 5

• $2.25MMO · Verdict

  Johnson County jury, highway-speed rear-end collision with a construction contractor.

  Missouri Lawyers Media · Oct 5

• Ruling4th Cir.

  AFFF Firefighting Foam · MDL 2873

  The Fourth Circuit says California must be allowed to challenge the order transferring its case into the MDL.

  Mealey's · Oct 5

• Trial setMar 2027

  Hernia Mesh · Covidien · MDL 3029

  A Covidien ProGrip mesh case is scheduled for a March 2027 jury trial.

  AboutLawsuits · Oct 6

• On trialMissouri

  Roundup

  A new Roundup cancer trial is under way in Missouri state court.

  AboutLawsuits · Oct 5

• LeadershipE.D.N.C.

  Camp Lejeune

  Plaintiffs' leadership counsel were reappointed as settlement discussions continue.

  Mealey's · Oct 5

Created October 2, reported this week

• MDL 3199N.D. Cal.

  Apple AirTag Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation: stalking injury suits centralized over Apple's opposition.

  AboutLawsuits · Bloomberg Law

• MDL 3194N.D. Ill.

  Abbott Laboratories Spinal Cord Stimulator Products Liability Litigation.

  AboutLawsuits

• MDL 3195N.D. Cal.

  Nevro Corporation Spinal Cord Stimulator Products Liability Litigation. Boston Scientific's stimulator cases already have their own docket, MDL 3181.

  AboutLawsuits

Set for argument at the December 3 JPML session

• MDL 3205Proposed

  X.AI / Grok AI minor sexual exploitation.

• MDL 3204Proposed

  Igloo 90-quart rolling cooler products liability.

• MDL 3203Proposed

  2026 multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak.

Source for the December session: JPML hearing order, filed October 9.

• Social media

  Social Media Addiction

  Arizona's attorney general sues TikTok over teen addiction

  KJZZ · Oct 8

• PFAS

  PFAS

  Indiana leads a multistate suit over how DuPont moved its PFAS liabilities

  IndyStar · Oct 5

• AI chatbots

  AI Suicide / Self-Harm

  Kentucky lawsuit says Character.AI chatbots encouraged self-harm

  Android Authority · Oct 9

• GLP-1

  GLP-1 Vision Loss (NAION)

  GLP-1 drugs and vision loss: do patients need a warning?

  Medscape · Oct 6

Mass Torts Made Perfect runs October 13 to 15. In the week before it, LMI collected 134 public posts on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook that mention the show, from 80 accounts. Few name a tort: no single tort appears in more than 4 of them.

What the posts were about

A post can count in more than one row. Posts dated October 5 to 11 that mention MTMP, from LMI's social search.

Why it mattersBefore the show, vendors are selling AI, intake and operations tools, and firms are keeping their tort plans to themselves. Next Friday's issue covers what came out of the show.

Meta ads running on each date from law firms and lead sellers, publishers excluded. Uber Sexual Assault and Social Media Addiction are left out this week because LMI's collection for those two torts was incomplete on both dates.

Why it mattersParaquat's climb started October 6 and built over three days. It follows reports on October 2 that hundreds of plaintiffs rejected the proposed MDL settlement (AboutLawsuits).

Paraquat, the tort with the biggest gain this week. Meta ads running on October 11.

Names are each advertiser's public page name in the Meta Ad Library. Wisner Baum and Paraquat Exposure Lawsuit also had 5 running ads. Wisner Baum is the law firm with the most Paraquat ads running.

Why it mattersFour advertisers ran 748 of the 775 Paraquat ads (97%). Settlements for Pesticide Exposure started advertising September 28 and had 33 ads running a week earlier.

• Oct 13-15Las Vegas

  Mass Torts Made Perfect, Fall 2026

  Bellagio

• Oct 13Phoenix

  Bard PowerPort MDL 3081, third bellwether trial

  D. Ariz. · Infection case; the bellwether record is 1-1 · Trial dates can move

• Oct 15New York

  Sexual Abuse Litigation & Coverage Conference

  Perrin Conferences

• Oct 26-29San Diego

  LEX Summit 2026

  Filevine

• Oct 27-29The Woodlands, TX

  Lanier Settlement Academy

  The National Trial Lawyers

• Nov 5-6Hollywood, FL

  Masters of Legal Marketing

  Exults

• Nov 9-12O'ahu

  TLMT O'ahu 2026

  Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts

• Dec 3New Orleans

  JPML hearing session

  HarrisMartin's MDL Conference is the day before, December 2

Dates checked on each organizer's site or the court's order, October 10.

FDA actions LMI is researching. A boxed warning or a recall is a reason to watch. It does not predict litigation, and LMI has not yet verified a matching injury lawsuit for any of these.