Monday, August 24, 2026

Weekly Docket: Established Intake Channels Drive the Filing Surge

Established intake channels powered the week’s volume, led by Zantac Products Liability Litigation (2924) with 94 filings, all from Keller Postman LLC as original Eastern District of Pennsylvania complaints, not MDL tag-alongs, and not a revival of its dismissed federal merits docket. Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047) added 64 matters as Keller Postman LLC filed 20 and Wright & Schulte LLC filed 16, keeping platform-harm claims concentrated as the states’ Meta case tests youth-safety evidence. Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation (3060) logged 58 filings through Douglas & London and Peiffer Wolf, while Suboxone Film Products Liability Litigation (3092) drew 50 through Benton Law Firm and Bowman & Brooke LLP. Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation (3084) added 44 claims, paced by Chaffin Luhana LLP’s 23 and Nachawati Law Group PLLC’s 10, as its next bellwether track moves toward trial. See the full filing feed and firm-level breakdowns here.

Virginia Court Clears Talc Researchers in J&J Libel Fight

A Virginia federal judge granted summary judgment on Aug. 21 to three researchers sued by Johnson & Johnson’s Pecos River Talc LLC over a study examining mesothelioma patients’ talc exposure. Judge Jamar Walker held that the company had not established actual malice, even though the study contained data errors and duplicated some patient entries. The ruling does not determine whether cosmetic talc causes cancer or resolve product-liability claims. But in Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (2738), it preserves a contested body of research that plaintiffs can continue to invoke in disputes over scientific proof and corporate challenges to that evidence.

California Under-16 Platform Restrictions Reach Senate Floor

California’s AB 1709 reached the Senate’s third-reading file on Aug. 24 after the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the measure 4-0 earlier this month. The bill would bar covered platforms from furnishing specified addictive features, including personalized addictive feeds and autoplay, to users under 16 while requiring access without those features. It would authorize enforcement by the attorney general and local prosecutors and establish an e-Safety Advisory Commission. The proposal will not adjudicate claims in Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047), but its advance puts age assurance, feature design and youth-protection controls at the center of the statutory and evidentiary pressure confronting platform defendants.