closeup of a gavel in a courtroom

As 2026 gets underway, many dangerous product lawsuits are advancing into key phases. Here’s where things stand for some of the biggest litigations in the country in February 2026.

Roundup Lawsuit Heading to the Supreme Court

In a tectonic update that could affect tens of thousands of lawsuits, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a Roundup lawsuit.

This has long been the linchpin in Bayer’s plan to escape this litigation, which centers on claims that the weed killer is tied to the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company is hopeful that a positive ruling could help resolve many cases in its favor.

As of Fall 2025, more than 60,000 Roundup lawsuits were active across the country.

The Supreme Court will decide on an issue called federal preemption. Many Roundup lawsuits center around state-based failure-to-warn claims, which essentially say that the makers of the weed killer ran afoul of state laws by not including a cancer warning on the label.

Bayer argues that those claims are preempted, or overruled, by federal law since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a Roundup label that does not include a cancer warning. The company argues that states can’t impose labeling requirements beyond the scope of federal law.

Lower courts have been divided on this issue, offering contradictory rulings in past cases.

The Supreme Court may make a decision by June of this year. 

Paraquat Lawsuit Settled Before Trial 

Syngenta has once again opted to resolve a paraquat lawsuit before it could get to a jury. 

Last month, the company agreed to a settlement for what was set to be the first U.S. trial over claims that the herbicide is connected to the development of Parkinson’s disease. The settlement agreement was reached just a day before the trial was scheduled to begin. 

That news comes as work continues on a larger agreement that could resolve thousands of paraquat cases pending in federal court. Recent court documents show that a tentative agreement was reached in August 2025 to settle an undisclosed number of those lawsuits.

A lien resolution administrator was also appointed in the MDL last month, a procedural step that often takes place as a settlement nears.

At the same time, recent updates from the Roundup lawsuits are bleeding into the paraquat litigation. Syngenta recently filed a motion for partial summary judgment based on the claims Bayer is using in the Roundup lawsuits.

Syngenta suggested that the judge could wait until the Supreme Court has made a decision on Roundup before weighing in on the motion.

Pfizer Maintains Preemption Argument for Depo-Provera Lawsuits 

The Depo-Provera lawsuits saw a major potential shakeup in December when the FDA approved a new label for the birth control injection that included a meningioma warning.

More than 2,000 Depo lawsuits are pending in federal court over claims that the shot could result in a higher risk of developing these brain tumors.

Pfizer had been leaning on a preemption argument in these cases, claiming that the FDA had previously rejected a label update to warn about meningiomas, so the lawsuits shouldn’t move forward. That argument seemingly took a big hit with the FDA’s new label decision.

In newly filed court documents, Pfizer is continuing to maintain its preemption claim. The company now argues that summary judgment should still be granted since the new label does not include specific language on an increased risk of meningiomas. 

The judge overseeing these cases will likely make a decision on this key issue in the coming months.