Nearly 4,000 Women Are Pursuing a Depo-Provera Lawsuit After Developing Brain Tumors

Size of the litigation continues to rapidly expand, as lawyers prepare for the first bellwether Depo-Provera lawsuit to go before a jury on December 7, 2026.

As a growing number of women file Depo-Provera lawsuits indicating the birth control injection caused them to develop meningioma brain tumors, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the claims will meet with attorneys on Friday, to review the status of the litigation and progress preparing for the first test cases to go to trial in early December 2026.

Pfizer and several generic manufacturers face complaints brought by thousands of women nationwide, who claim that inadequate warnings were provided to consumers and the medical community about the risk that the Depo-Provera birth control shot may cause or accelerate the growth of brain tumors.

Concerns about the potential Depo-Provera brain tumor side effects first emerged after a French study linked the birth control injection to a 5.5-fold increased risk of developing intracranial meningioma, which are slow-growing brain tumors that can quietly develop before causing noticeable complications. Research has warned that as meningiomas grow, they may interfere with surrounding brain tissue and nerves, sometimes requiring surgical intervention or long-term medical monitoring.

Treatment of intracranial meningiomas may require one or more complex brain surgeries and, in some cases, the tumors are located in areas too critical to safely remove. Regardless of whether surgery is successful or even attempted, women often face lifelong fears that the meningioma could return or continue to grow, requiring ongoing medical monitoring to ensure it does not cause additional brain damage.

Since February of last year, all federal Depo-Provera lawsuits have been consolidated in the Northern District of Florida before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings. 

Early in the litigation, Judge Rodgers selected five “pilot” cases to serve as bellwether lawsuit trials. These trials are intended to help both sides evaluate how juries will digest evidence and expert testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

The parties are scheduled to meet with Judge Rodgers on March 6 to update the Court on the progress of discovery and other issues that need to be addressed before the first Depo-Provera bellwether trial, scheduled to begin on December 7, 2026. 

Ahead of the case management conference, plaintiffs and defendants released a joint status report (PDF) on March 2, indicating that there are now more than 4,000 Depo-Provera lawsuits pending nationwide.

In addition to 3,335 cases pending before Judge Rodgers in the Depo-Provera MDL, the lawyers indicate that there are hundreds of similar lawsuits pending in various different state courts, including 95 lawsuits involving 104 plaintiffs in New York state court and another 287 lawsuits, representing 405 plaintiffs, filed in Delaware state court.

Expert discovery in the federal MDL is currently underway, with depositions of expert witnesses beginning late last month and scheduled to continue through March 20. The parties have also asked the court to hold a hearing from May 26 through May 28 on motions seeking to exclude expert testimony that may be presented to juries during the upcoming bellwether trials.

In addition, Pfizer has indicated it plans to challenge the litigation on federal preemption grounds, arguing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not permit the company to add the warning labels plaintiffs claim were necessary, and therefore the manufacturer should be shielded from liability.

Despite these unresolved hurdles, the first bellwether trial is currently scheduled to begin in December. Additional pilot trials are expected to follow in 2027. Once those early test cases are completed, if the parties are unable to reach a global Depo-Provera settlement, the remaining lawsuits may be returned to federal courts nationwide for individual trial dates.

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