Published
October 3, 2026
Federal courts were handling 204,977 open mass tort lawsuits in 162 multidistrict litigations (MDLs) on October 1, 2026, down 1,205 from September, as the Roundup weedkiller docket shed 2,821 cases while social media addiction, port catheter and Uber passenger claims grew. The monthly count is a caseload number only; it has no fund attached and nothing to claim.
Allegations Only · Nothing to Claim Here
The lawsuits counted in this report are unproven allegations. The companies named below have not been found liable in the litigation described, and this report creates nothing to claim. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
The October Numbers in One Minute
On the first business day of every month, the federal courts publish a count of their biggest group lawsuits. The edition dated October 1, 2026 shows:- 162 active MDLs, down from 166 in September. Four closed and none were added to the active list.
- 204,977 open lawsuits inside them, down 1,205 from 206,182.
- 717,525 lawsuits filed into those MDLs since each one began, up 1,404 in a month.
- One big drop: the Roundup weedkiller MDL fell from 3,925 open cases to 1,104. Leave Roundup out and the rest of the system actually grew by 1,671 cases.
Free settlement alerts
Get notified when new class actions open to claims
Join thousands of readers who get the latest class action settlements you may qualify for — delivered straight to your inbox.
Report
Monthly caseload count · October 1, 2026
Published by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Lawsuits Pending
204,977
In 162 active MDLs · down 1,205 from September · 717,525 filed since inception
Can I Claim?
No — this is a court caseload count, not a settlement
There is no fund, no claim form and no deadline attached to this report
What Is an MDL? The Simple Version
MDL stands for multidistrict litigation. Think of it as one big filing cabinet for lawsuits that are all about the same thing.Imagine a medical device is accused of failing, and 4,000 people in 40 states each sue the maker. Without an MDL, 40 different judges would each have to learn the same science, order the same company records and hear the same arguments. So a panel of seven federal judges — the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, or JPML — can send all of those cases to one judge in one courthouse.
That judge handles the shared work once: collecting documents, deciding which experts can testify, and often holding a few test trials, called bellwether trials, so both sides can see how juries react. Each person still keeps their own lawsuit. When the shared work is done, cases either settle or get sent back to the courts they came from.
How an MDL Differs From a Class Action
In a class action, a few people sue for everyone in a group, and one result covers the whole group. That is why class actions come with notices, settlement websites and claim forms that anyone eligible can fill out.An MDL works differently. Nobody is in an MDL unless they filed their own lawsuit. There is no group-wide claim form, and when a mass tort settles, money is usually divided case by case based on each person’s injuries. So a growing MDL tells you more people are suing. It does not tell you whether you can collect anything.
What Grew in October
Thirty-seven MDLs grew over the month, 37 shrank and 88 did not change. Together, the growing dockets added 2,239 cases, led by:- Social media addiction (MDL 3047), up 616 to 3,824 — the biggest gain of the month. Families and school districts allege platforms were designed to hook young users; the companies deny it. See our social media addiction lawsuit page.
- Bard implanted port catheters (MDL 3081), up 406 to 4,140. Plaintiffs allege the chest ports can crack, migrate or cause infections; Bard denies it. See our port catheter lawsuit page.
- Uber passenger sexual assault (MDL 3084), up 328 to 4,916. See our Uber lawsuit page. The separate Lyft docket (MDL 3171) added 28, to 134 — see our Lyft lawsuit page.
- Hair relaxers (MDL 3060), up 252 to 12,381. Plaintiffs allege chemical straighteners caused uterine and ovarian cancer; manufacturers deny it. See our hair relaxer lawsuit page.
- Suboxone film (MDL 3092), up 195 to 2,022, passing 2,000 for the first time. Plaintiffs allege the film caused tooth decay. See our Suboxone lawsuit page.
- Talcum powder (MDL 2738), up 90 to 69,340 — still the largest MDL in the country, holding about one in three of every open mass tort case. See our talc lawsuit page.
- Tylenol in pregnancy (MDL 3043), up 55 to 113, nearly doubling. The growth follows a federal appeals court’s July 2026 decision reviving the litigation. See our Tylenol lawsuit page.
- GLP-1 vision loss (MDL 3163), up 31 to 247. The main GLP-1 docket over Ozempic-type drugs (MDL 3094) barely moved, adding 3 to 4,025. See our GLP-1 lawsuit update.
What Shrank — and Why a Drop Is Not a Payout
The shrinking dockets lost 3,389 cases, and most of that was one MDL.Roundup (MDL 2741) fell by 2,821, from 3,925 open cases to 1,104, while its lifetime total rose by one. The report does not say why. The drop comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2026 Monsanto v. Durnell decision on whether federal pesticide law blocks failure-to-warn claims, and during the court review of a separate $7.25 billion Roundup class settlement in Missouri state court, which is not part of the federal MDL. OCA covers both on its Roundup MDL page and its Roundup settlement page.
Other notable declines:
- Zostavax shingles vaccine (MDL 2848) went from 101 open cases to zero, after falling from 826 the month before. See our Zostavax page.
- Elmiron (MDL 2973) dropped 100, to 186. See our Elmiron page.
- Paraquat (MDL 3004) dropped 64, to 6,602. See our paraquat page.
- Taxotere hair loss (MDL 2740) dropped 61, to 20, and the Cook IVC filter docket dropped 31, to 6,470 — see our IVC filter update.
Four MDLs Closed, Nine More Proposed
Four MDLs dropped off the active list between September and October: the Evenflo booster seat marketing case (28 open cases in September), the Google cookie placement privacy case (26), the AVYCAZ patent case (1) and the Smith & Nephew Birmingham hip implant case, which had no open cases left.No new MDL joined the active list this month, but the panel’s October 1 docket report shows nine proposed MDLs that have been filed and have no judge assigned yet. They include requests to group lawsuits over Abbott and Nevro spinal cord stimulators, Apple AirTags, tariff refunds from Amazon and other retailers, NCAA eligibility rules, FedEx California wage claims, Unison “HomeOwner Agreements” and a 2026 cyclosporiasis food-poisoning outbreak. The panel decides whether each one becomes an MDL. Related OCA coverage: the spinal cord stimulator lawsuits (a Boston Scientific MDL already exists and grew by 12, to 41) and the Amazon tariff refund lawsuit, part of OCA’s tariff lawsuit tracker.
A Few Giant MDLs Hold Almost Everything
The 21 MDLs with 1,000 or more open cases hold 193,866 lawsuits — 94.6% of every pending case in the system. At the other end, 43 MDLs have ten or fewer open cases. So “162 MDLs” really means two things: a couple of dozen huge product-injury fights that can take years, and a long list of small, specialized cases most people never hear about.The five largest on October 1: talcum powder (69,340), Bard/Davol hernia mesh (23,324), firefighting foam (15,264), hair relaxers (12,381) and heartburn drugs known as proton-pump inhibitors (11,404). Every MDL, with its judge, court and case count, is on our searchable MDL tracker.
Is There Anything to Claim?
No. Nothing in the October report is a claim form, and none of these MDLs has a public, class-wide claim process. People in an MDL are there because they filed their own lawsuits. The class action settlements that do have open claim forms and deadlines are listed on the open settlements page, and mass tort coverage is collected on the mass tort hub. Last month’s numbers are in the September 2026 MDL report.Read the October 2026 MDL Summary
OCA’s one-page summary of the October 1, 2026 report and the changes since September:Questions
What is an MDL, in simple terms?
An MDL, short for multidistrict litigation, is a way federal courts group thousands of similar lawsuits. When many people sue the same company over the same product in courts around the country, a panel of federal judges can send all of those cases to one judge. That judge handles the shared early work once, but every person keeps their own separate lawsuit.
How many MDL lawsuits are pending in October 2026?
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation counted 204,977 pending lawsuits in 162 active MDLs on October 1, 2026, down 1,205 from 206,182 in 166 MDLs a month earlier. Another 512,548 cases filed into those MDLs have already closed, for a lifetime total of 717,525.
Why did the Roundup MDL drop so much in October 2026?
The Roundup MDL fell from 3,925 pending cases to 1,104 between the September 1 and October 1, 2026 reports. The report itself does not say why; it only counts cases. A case can leave an MDL by dismissal, settlement or being sent back to its original court, and the count alone does not show which happened.
Is an MDL the same as a class action?
No. In a class action, one judgment covers everyone in the class, and members who never filed anything can usually claim money from a settlement. In an MDL, each person has their own lawsuit that they filed themselves, and nobody is included automatically. That is why MDLs do not come with a public claim form.
Can I file a claim from the MDL report?
No. The monthly MDL report is a count of open court cases. It is not a settlement, it does not create a fund, and it has no claim form or deadline. A rising or falling count says nothing about whether money will be paid in that litigation.
Sources
• U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation — MDL Statistics Report, Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending, October 1, 2026, jpml.uscourts.gov• U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation — MDL Statistics Report, Docket Type Summary, October 1, 2026 (proposed MDLs without an assigned judge), jpml.uscourts.gov
• U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation — September 1, 2026 report, used for the month-over-month comparison
Month-over-month changes are OCA’s comparison of the two official reports; every total reproduces the JPML’s own report totals. OpenClassActions.com is a consumer news site, not a law firm. It is not legal advice. Allegations in the underlying lawsuits have not been proven in court.
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Status
Monthly report published
Report
MDL Statistics Report — Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending
Report Date
October 1, 2026
Issued By
U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Scope
162 active MDLs · 50 districts · 141 judges
Actions
204,977 pending · 717,525 filed since inception
Official Website
JPML Pending MDL Statistics
