Lawyers Selected 32 Hair Relaxer Lawsuits for Bellwether Discovery in MDL

Lawsuits over uterine cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer from hair relaxer products will be prepared for a series of MDL bellwether trials over the next two years.

Parties involved in federal hair relaxer lawsuits have selected a group of 32 cases brought by women diagnosed with uterine cancer, ovarian cancer or endometrial cancer to prepare for a series of early bellwether trials, which will be used to gauge how juries may respond to similar claims being presented by more than 12,000 other women throughout the U.S.

Each of the claims raise similar allegations, indicating that cosmetics manufacturers failed to warn women about the long-term side effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in popular hair relaxer products, such as Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum, ORS Olive Oil and others, which have been marketed to African American women for decades as a safe and effective way to straighten their hair.

The lawsuits first began to be filed in late 2022, after the publication of a study that linked hair relaxers and cancer, indicating women who regularly use the products face a 156% increased risk of uterine cancer. However, plaintiffs maintain that the manufacturers knew or should have known about these risks years earlier but placed a desire for profits before the health and safety of women.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, the cases have been centralized as part of a hair relaxer lawsuit MDL (multidistrict litigation) in the Northern District of Illinois, where Judge Mary Rowland is currently presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

To help the parties evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their case, and potentially facilitate hair relaxer settlement negotiations to resolve the litigation, Judge Rowland previously directed each side to identify 20 cases that they believed were most representative of other claims brought in the litigation.  

Each party was then allowed to strike four of the other side’s selection, resulting in a final pool of bellwether discovery claims that will go through case-specific discovery and preparations for trial over the next two years.

In a status report (PDF) submitted late last week, lawyers representing the plaintiffs and manufacturers identified the 32 hair relaxer lawsuits that will serve as the bellwether discovery pool, with each of the claims involving women diagnosed with either uterine cancer, endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer following regular use of certain popular products.

Judge Rowland has indicated that fact discovery in the cases should be completed by February 16, 2026, with general causation discovery completed by March 2, 2026, and any Daubert motions challenging the admissibility of expert testimony due by May 15, 2026.

The Court will select three cases to serve as bellwether trials by February 23, 2026. However, given the pretrial schedule, it is likely that the first bellwether trial will not be held until at least the middle of 2027.

While the outcome of these early trials will not be binding on other women presenting a claim, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the litigation, and may have a substantial impact on the timing and average amounts of any hair relaxer settlements offered to women diagnosed with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer by the manufacturers.

However, if the hair relaxer bellwether trials do not result in any global resolution for the claims, it is likely that Judge Rowland will begin remanding each claim back to various different U.S. District Courts for individual trials in the coming years.