Depo-Provera Lawsuit Filings Exceed 6,000, As Court Prepares for First Test Trials

The number of Depo-Prevera meningioma claims has increased by 50% over the past two-months, as more women link their brain tumors to the birth control shots.

The number of Depo-Provera lawsuits brought in federal and state courts nationwide now exceeds 6,000 claims, each involving similar allegations that women developed intracranial meningioma after receiving the popular birth control injections.

Depo-Provera (Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA) is a hormonal birth control injection that contains a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone. First approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992, the “Depo shot,” as it is commonly known, is advertised to prevent pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation, thickening cervical mucus to block sperm, and thinning the uterine lining to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting.

Litigation over Depo-Provera side effects began to emerge in 2024, following the publication of a French study that linked long-term use of the birth control shot to a substantially increased risk of brain tumors. Researchers found that women who used the injection faced more than five times the risk of developing an intracranial meningioma. 

Meningiomas can develop slowly and remain undetected for years, sometimes decades after a woman received Depo-Provera injections. As the tumors grow, they may begin pressing on surrounding brain tissue and nerves, leading to brain damage, memory problems, cognitive difficulties, balance issues, vision changes and hearing loss. In severe or untreated cases, the tumors may become life-threatening.

Over the last two years, thousands of women have come forward to file lawsuits against Depo-Provera manufacturers, claiming that they may have avoided a devastating meningioma diagnosis if earlier warnings had been provided to users and the medical community. However, as more women learn about the link between Depo-Provera and meningioma, the number of filings has spiked nationwide in recent months.

Since February 2025, all federal Depo-Provera brain tumor lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Florida, where U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

In a joint status report (PDF) issued on May 15, the parties indicated that there are currently:

• 5,549 claims filed in the federal MDL
• Another 340 claims in Delaware state court
• 119 filings in New York state courts
• 91 claims in California state court
• 72 lawsuits in Minnesota
• 13 claims in Connecticut
• 12 lawsuits in Illinois
• Two brought in New Mexico
• One each in New Hampshire and Wisconsin
• One filed in Missouri as recently as May 7

The new numbers represent about a 50% increase in cases just since March, when there were only about 4,000 cases pending nationwide. The spike in recent lawsuit filings has largely been driven by the approaching two year anniversary of the publication of the French study that first identified the potential Depo-Provera meningioma risks, which the drug maker may argue triggered the start of a statute of limitations period for women in many states.

Depo-Provera Brain Tumor Lawsuit Trials

To help manage the rapidly growing litigation, Judge Rodgers previously ordered the parties to prepare five “pilot” cases for early test trials, which are designed to give participants a chance to see how juries will interpret testimony and evidence in cases that represent the majority of circumstances throughout the litigation.

The status report indicates that the parties have concluded general causation expert depositions for the litigation, which is intended to determine whether plaintiffs can prove scientifically that the injections can actually contribute to intracranial meningioma development. Both sides have already filed Daubert motions designed to challenge the admissibility of their expert witnesses and the methodologies they used to reach their scientific conclusions.

The first bellwether trial is currently expected to begin on December 7, 2026, with additional trials following in 2027. While the outcomes of these trials are not binding on other women pursuing claims, they will be closely watched, as the juries’ determinations could play a significant role in any potential Depo-Provera settlement negotiations.

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