Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Daily Docket: Bellwether Week Continues; Bard, NEC and Meta AG Trials

Suboxone intake dominated the Aug. 18 mass-tort docket, with Suboxone Film Products Liability Litigation (3092) drawing 50 filings through Benton Law Firm and Bowman & Brooke LLP. Zantac Products Liability Litigation (2924) added 15 filings, all through Keller Postman LLC, while Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047) logged 13, led by six from Keller Postman LLC and two from Hendy Johnson Vaughn Emery PSC. PFAS claims held an eight-filing lane in Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (2873), where Keefe Law Firm LLC filed six. Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation (3060) matched that eight-filing total, paced by three from Johnson Law Group and one from Ashcraft Gerel LLP. See the full filing feed and firm-level breakdowns here.

Bellwether Trials Put Port Fracture and Formula Claims Before Juries

The second bellwether trial in Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation (3081) opened Aug. 18, putting Kimberly Divelbliss’ alleged catheter-fracture claim against Becton Dickinson before an Arizona jury. The case centers on a silicone Groshong catheter placed through the subclavian vein, testing competing defect and implantation-causation theories in the first bellwether focused on an alleged fracture. The Inman bellwether in Preterm Infant Nutrition Products Liability Litigation (3026) also moved into evidentiary trial Aug. 17, bringing Mead Johnson’s warnings, design and causation defenses into a live jury contest. Together, the trials force two mature federal proceedings to test expert proof and liability narratives in court rather than through case-management orders alone.

Meta Attorneys-General Trial Opens Separate Youth-Harms Test

The multistate attorneys-general trial against Meta opened Aug. 18 before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in People of the State of California et al. v. Meta Platforms Inc., No. 4:23-cv-05448. California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey contend that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to maximize young users’ engagement while misleading the public about resulting harms and unlawfully collecting children’s data. The state-attorneys-general trial is separate from, and not a bellwether in, Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047). Its evidentiary record will nevertheless put platform-design evidence and youth-safety representations under immediate adversarial testing as the broader social-media litigation continues.