Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Hair Relaxer and Uber Assault Dockets Drive 75-Filing Day as Mature Mass Torts Harden

Yesterday's 75 new filings clustered in mature dockets where procedural leverage, not raw volume, now sets the agenda, led by the chemical hair-straightener litigation as its bellwether program hardened into discovery trench warfare. MDL 3060 hair relaxer litigation paced the day with 16 filings — Keller Postman LLC driving six, with Peiffer Wolf and Wallace Miller adding four apiece — as the now fourth-largest federal MDL fights over year-by-year plaintiff hairstyle photographs and the original fact sheets behind amended product-use histories. Close behind, MDL 3084 Uber passenger sexual assault litigation logged 14, Cutter Law PC's six leading and Anapol Weiss adding four, under an expanded Defendant Fact Sheet ahead of back-to-back September bellwethers, while MDL 2738 talcum powder — the country's largest active mass tort — drew 10 evenly split between Ashcraft Gerel LLP and Wagstaff Law Firm as it awaits a general-causation ruling. Rounding out the day, MDL 2974 Paragard IUD litigation added five, four of them from Keller Postman LLC, and two new infant-formula botulism suits against Nara Organics signaled an emerging injury theory trailing the already-consolidated ByHeart cases in MDL 3178. See the full filing feed and firm-level breakdowns here.

Criminal Conviction in Ontario Hotel Trafficking Case Highlights Civil Hospitality Liability

On June 23, 2026, a judge returned a guilty verdict against Terrell Ochrym on multiple human trafficking and exploitation charges in a Barrie, Ontario court, following a trial detailing operations based out of local hotels. The conviction highlights the ongoing focus on the hospitality industry's role in facilitating such operations, a central theme in civil actions brought by survivors. Although the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has previously denied consolidation for federal hotel sex trafficking cases, plaintiffs continue to pursue individual civil claims against major hotel brands for failing to prevent trafficking on their premises. This criminal resolution provides further evidentiary support for civil plaintiffs seeking to demonstrate that hotel operators ignored obvious red flags and failed to protect vulnerable individuals.

Paragard IUD Litigation Eyes Fall Bellwethers After Teva Defense Verdict

The Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2974), before Judge Leigh Martin May in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, is regrouping after the first bellwether trial ended in a defense verdict for Teva Pharmaceuticals in February 2026. Plaintiffs allege the copper intrauterine device is defectively designed and prone to fracturing upon removal, causing severe internal injuries, embedment, and the need for surgical extraction. With the lead case resolved in the defense's favor, Judge May has reset the second and third bellwether trials for the fall, keeping the consolidated docket — now roughly 4,071 cases — on a forward litigation track. A wave of Daubert motions aimed at plaintiffs' design-defect and warning experts is expected over the summer, and those rulings will set the leverage for both sides heading into the next trials.