Active Mass Tort Dockets in 2025–2026: Which Campaigns Are Open, Closing, and Worth Entering Now

3,490 pending cases as of April 2026. Approximately 1,400 new filings in March 2026 alone — the fastest-growing MDL in federal mass tort by a wide margin.

Here is why this docket is the best entry point in the current market.

The March 2024 scientific study linking Depo-Provera to meningioma brain tumors created a mass discovery event. Millions of women who received injectable Depo-Provera over the years — and who had subsequently developed meningioma — suddenly had a fresh SOL window running from 2024 when they learned of the connection. That’s not a small plaintiff pool. It’s enormous. And most of it hasn’t been acquired yet.

The MDL consolidated in N.D. Florida under Judge Rodgers in 2025. Discovery concluded September 2025. Bellwether trial selection is underway. The docket is in peak Phase 2. Plaintiff inventories are still being built. Lead prices are $500 per lead. CPR on docket-specific leads runs $2,600–$3,300.

In 12–18 months, when bellwether verdicts establish settlement ranges and the plaintiff class is substantially aggregated, those numbers will be worse. Enter now.

15,220 pending cases. Fifth-largest MDL in the country. Individual plaintiff cancer claims are the active acquisition target — municipal water system cases settled for $12 billion and are largely resolved.

AFFF grew 99% in 2025. The case values are real. PFAS-linked cancers — bladder, kidney, testicular, thyroid — command strong settlement ranges. The qualification criteria are tight enough that docket-specific leads produce low intake disqualification rates.

The complication: global settlement speculation has circulated since 2023. It hasn’t materialized. But if it does — if 3M, DuPont, and the other defendants announce a framework for individual plaintiff claims — the acquisition window closes in days, not weeks. Firms will immediately stop buying plaintiffs. Every lead you’ve ordered but haven’t received becomes worthless.

Enter AFFF now if you have active buyer relationships and a defined exit trigger. The trigger: any credible reporting of global individual plaintiff settlement negotiations. Not rumors. Named parties, named mediator, named framework. That’s when you stop.

10,948 pending cases in MDL-3060 (N.D. Illinois). Adding 247 new cases per month. The plaintiff pool depth here is unlike any other active docket — millions of women have used chemical relaxers long-term, and the 2022 NIH study linking these products to uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, and endometrial cancer created a massive awareness event.

The April 2026 Daubert hearings on causation are the defining variable. If the court rules favorably for plaintiffs on the scientific causation standard, settlement discussions accelerate and plaintiff acquisition intensifies. If the ruling creates headwinds — if the causation experts are excluded or substantially limited — the docket’s trajectory changes.

Enter at moderate volume now. Have a scaling decision ready for the Daubert outcome. Favorable ruling: accelerate hard. Adverse ruling: pause and reassess.

3,191 pending cases in MDL-3094 (E.D. Pennsylvania). Growing 130% year-over-year. A new JAMA study linking GLP-1 drugs to permanent vision loss (NAION) has expanded the potential plaintiff pool beyond the original gastroparesis and intestinal obstruction claims.

This is Phase 1–2. Case values are not established. Bellwether selection is expected mid-2026. Novo Nordisk has filed motions to dismiss that haven’t been resolved. The litigation could expand significantly — 31 million Americans use GLP-1 drugs — or could be substantially narrowed if the causation standards tighten.

The entry logic here is position-building, not volume scaling. Enter at modest spend on the highest-severity qualifying injuries — gastroparesis requiring hospitalization, intestinal obstruction, NAION vision loss. Build plaintiff inventory before the docket enters Phase 2 peak acquisition. If bellwether selection in mid-2026 goes well, you scale from a position of established infrastructure and existing buyer relationships.

Don’t put $50,000/month into Ozempic leads today. Put $10,000/month in, build the system, and have the scale capacity ready when the data justifies it.

750+ federal cases. Bellwether trials scheduled August 2026, November 2026, and February 2027.

This is the most time-sensitive entry window in the current docket landscape. Pre-bellwether is peak acquisition phase for a reason: once the first bellwether verdict establishes case values, the settlement framework begins taking shape and plaintiff acquisition intensifies across every firm in the MDL simultaneously. The cost to acquire plaintiffs post-verdict is substantially higher than pre-verdict.

The claim: Abbott’s Similac and Mead Johnson’s Enfamil — cow’s milk-based formula administered to premature infants in NICUs — caused necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe intestinal disease that killed or permanently injured those infants. The damages in severe NEC outcomes are significant: wrongful death, long-term disability, bowel resection. Strong cases.

You have until August 2026 to enter before the first bellwether verdict changes the economics. After that, you’re competing in peak Phase 2 against every firm that entered pre-verdict.

No MDL closing date. No settlement deadline. No acquisition window that closes.

Mesothelioma is the one mass tort docket that doesn’t follow the phase lifecycle, because asbestos exposure from decades ago is still producing new diagnoses every year. The plaintiff population is steady. The case values are the highest in mass tort — settlements frequently exceed $1,000,000 for mesothelioma with documented asbestos exposure history.

The qualification bar is high. Mesothelioma diagnosis confirmed — not lung cancer, not asbestosis, mesothelioma. Exposure history to asbestos documented. SOL verified under the discovery rule running from diagnosis date.

If you have the intake infrastructure to handle mesothelioma leads — longer time-to-retainer, medical record verification, nuanced exposure history documentation — this is the one docket where sustained multi-year investment makes sense regardless of MDL timing.

4,464 pending cases in the MDL. 170,000+ total cases filed. Bayer has paid $11 billion across approximately 100,000 settled cases.

This is Phase 3. The plaintiff class is substantially aggregated. Acquisition costs are at their highest. Buyer demand from firms best positioned to settle existing cases is contracting, not growing. The Missouri Supreme Court finalized a $600 million judgment in early 2026 — which creates settlement pressure but also signals the litigation is heading toward conclusion, not expansion.

If you are already running Roundup campaigns with active buyers and established economics: continue. Don’t build new infrastructure for this docket. Don’t enter fresh. The firms that captured Roundup economics captured them in 2019–2022.