With Roblox Being Sued by Families Nationwide, JPML To Consider Centralizing Claims

U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has agreed to hear oral arguments on December 4, to decide whether to centralize Roblox lawsuits being pursued by families nationwide.

A panel of federal judges will meet on December 4, 2025, to determine whether all Roblox child exploitation lawsuits filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide should be consolidated before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings, as parents continue to sue the Roblox creators for failing to put safeguards in place to protect children from sexual predators.

Roblox is a popular video game construction set, which was launched in September 2006, and has been aggressively marketed toward children, allowing users to build their own games, create customizable avatars, make in-game purchases and explore player-created worlds and games. 

Part of the game’s popular design allows players to contact each other, which has led to hundreds of reports of Roblox child exploitation, including incidents where young children were blackmailed or groomed into sending explicit photos and videos. In other cases, children have even been abducted and raped by predators, who were able to prowl the app looking for young victims.

As a result, Roblox is being sued by families throughout the U.S., each raising similar allegations that the app was intentionally designed in a way that allowed it to become a haven for child predators, even as the creators continued to promote it as safe for children. Parents claim that Roblox turned a blind eye to these problems for years, so that it could continue profiting as much as possible from its popularity among children.

Last month, one of the parents filed a motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), seeking to centralize all Roblox child sexual exploitation lawsuits for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings in the Northern District of California, as a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The motion claims consolidation would prevent conflicting rulings by different judges, avoid duplicative discovery into common issues, and serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the Court.

At the time of the filing, Roblox was being sued by at least 32 different families, who brought nearly identical claims in more than 12 district courts There are also other platforms named in some of the claims, with Discord being included in 13 of the lawsuits, four including Snap Inc., which operates Snapchat, and one including Meta, the operators of Instagram. Plaintiffs allege child predators on Roblox often coerced children to use these apps as alternate means of communicating with their victims surreptitiously.

In a Notice of Hearing Session (PDF) issued on October 10, the JPML announced it will hold oral arguments on December 4 in the U.S. Courthouse in Austin, Texas, after which the panel will consider whether to centralize the child exploitation lawsuits against Roblox.

Following the oral arguments, if the panel agrees to the request, all federal Roblox lawsuits will be transferred to one U.S. District Judge. However, the lawsuits will remain individual, separate claims, and if no resolution or Roblox settlement agreement is reached during the pretrial proceedings they would be remanded back to their originating districts for individual trial dates.

Individuals who believe they or their children were harmed through Roblox can have their situation reviewed by a Roblox attorney to see if they qualify for a lawsuit or potential settlement. Case evaluations are confidential, and lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning no fees or costs are charged unless compensation is secured.

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