Thursday, August 13, 2026

Hair Relaxer Sets a Concentrated Filing Pace

Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation (3060) set the day’s pace with 26 filings, as Pulaski Kherkher PLLC lodged 10 and Peiffer Wolf added four, extending its lead over every other mass-tort docket. Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047) followed with 14 filings, concentrated in Makarem & Associates APLC’s six and Levin Papantonio’s five. PFAS intake remained substantial in Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation (2873), where Napoli Shkolnik filed five of 11 new cases and Keefe Law Firm LLC added two. Four-filing channels rounded out the top tier: Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball and Meshbesher & Spence led Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Devices Products Liability Litigation (2666), while Cory Watson PC filed all four complaints in Suboxone Film Products Liability Litigation (3092). See the full filing feed and firm-level breakdowns here.

Colorado Rideshare Law Creates a New Safety Benchmark

Colorado’s Transportation Network Company Consumer Protection Act took effect Aug. 12, creating a new statutory safety benchmark for Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation (3084). The law requires platform policies addressing sexual assault, physical assault, driver impersonation and account sharing, placing concrete prevention and response measures beside the broader safety representations at issue in rideshare cases. Its recurring criminal-history-check, incident-reporting and civil-penalty provisions do not begin until Jan. 1, 2027, requiring counsel to distinguish the Act’s current legal backdrop from its later operational mandates. Even so, the enactment gives parties a defined framework for testing whether platforms maintained feasible systems to prevent and respond to alleged assaults.

Bard PowerPort Bellwether Heads to Trial

A catheter-fracture bellwether trial in Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation (3081) is set to begin Aug. 18 in the District of Arizona, bringing the parties’ defect and causation proof to a jury. Kimberly Divelbliss’ case against Becton Dickinson is scheduled through Sept. 4 and centers on an alleged device fracture. The trial gives both sides a live measure of evidentiary risk rather than another paper ruling. Its outcome will not resolve the full docket, but the treatment of fracture proof, expert testimony and damages will provide an immediate leverage marker.