Depo-Provera Lawsuit MDL Status Hearings Scheduled Throughout 2026

Judge will meet with lawyers on a monthly basis, as thousands of lawsuits move forward involving allegations that Depo-Provera birth control shots caused women to develop meningioma brain tumors.

As a growing number of women continue to file Depo-Provera lawsuits alleging that they developed meningioma brain tumors after receiving the popular birth control shot, and lawyers work to prepare a series of “pilot” cases for early trial dates in the federal court system, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the litigation has scheduled a series of monthly status conferences throughout 2026, to keep the Court updated and litigation on track.

Depo-Provera is a long-acting hormonal contraceptive, which was introduced in 1992, involving quarterly injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate, a synthetic progestin, which is designed to prevent pregnancy.

Based on representations by the drug maker that the shot was a safe and effective form of birth control, tens of millions of women have received the injections. However, concerns about side effects of the shot have emerged, after recent studies linked Depo-Provera to an increased intracranial meningioma risk.

Researchers have found that women who receive the injections face more than a five-fold risk of developing the dangerous brain tumors, when compared to women who did not take the Depo shot. Intracranial meningioma can cause serious, potentially life-threatening complications, often requiring brain surgery to remove the tumors and life-long medical monitoring.

There are now more than 2,100 Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuits being pursued in federal courts, with thousands of additional claims under active investigation, each involving nearly identical allegations that Pfizer knew the birth control injections put women at an increased risk of brain tumors, yet failed to provide them with adequate warnings.

U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has been appointed to oversee coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings for all federal claims, as part of a Depo-Provera lawsuit MDL (multidistrict litigation), which is currently pending in the Northern District of Florida.

To oversee the complex legal proceedings and ensure the Court remains updated on discovery and other key developments in the Depo-Provera lawsuits throughout 2026, Judge Rodgers issued a pretrial order (PDF) on November 21, scheduling a series of monthly case management conferences, including meetings on:

Early in the litigation, Judge Rodgers ordered the parties to prepare five “pilot” Depo-Provera lawsuits for early trial dates. These bellwether trials are designed to allow plaintiffs and defendants to see how juries are likely to respond to evidence, testimony and arguments likely to be presented throughout the litigation.

As part of the preparation for the pilot trials, the plaintiffs must first show that it is scientifically feasible that Depo-Provera can cause the development of brain tumors, which is known as general causation. Motions challenging general causation expert testimony are due by March 22, 2026.

If plaintiffs establish there is sufficient evidence to potentially convince a jury that Depo-Provera can cause brain tumors, the litigation will proceed to the pilot trials.

While the outcomes of the pilot trials will not be binding on other claims in the federal or state courts, they could help form the basis of a Depo-Provera lawsuit settlement agreement, avoiding the need for hundreds of individual trials to be scheduled nationwide in future years.

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