Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Moving Forward Simultaneously in Federal MDL and Various State Courts

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all hair relaxer lawsuits will meet today with lawyers involved in the litigation, as a growing number of claims continue to be filed in both the federal and state court systems by women diagnosed with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and other injuries allegedly caused by toxic chemicals in popular straighteners.

Women began filing the complaints in late 2022, following the publication of a study that highlighted a link between hair relaxers and uterine cancer, finding that women who regularly used the products face a 156% increased risk compared to women who did not use them. Other studies have also found that hair relaxers increase the risk of ovarian cancer, as well as other injuries.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in lawsuits brought throughout the federal court system, the litigation has been centralized in the Northern District of Illinois before U.S. Judge Mary Rowland since February 2023, for coordinated pretrial proceedings as part of a hair relaxer lawsuit MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

There are currently just under 9,500 lawsuits pending in the federal MDL against the manufacturers of popular hair straighteners, like Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum Care, ORS Olive Oil and other brands, according to a docket update (PDF) posted by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) earlier this month. However, according to a joint status report (PDF) submitted last week by lawyers involved in the MDL, there are also another 300 complaints pending in various state courts, including Illinois, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania.

Judge Rowland has scheduled a status conference for today, at which time the parties are expected to update the Court on the progress of resolving certain issues in the litigation, including pending motions to dismiss claims involving specific injuries, deposition protocols and progress establishing a “bellwether” process, where a small group of representative cases will be prepared for early trial dates to gauge how juries may interpret evidence and expert testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

As part of the coordinated management of the cases, the parties are currently engaged in a discovery process that will continue through most of 2025, involving the exchange of information relevant to all claims. Once that is complete, it is expected that Judge Rowland will hold a series of “bellwether” trials. While the outcomes of these trials will not have any binding impact on other claims, the average hair relaxer lawsuit payouts awarded by juries may influence eventual settlement negotiations.

Of the thousands of claims filed, the parties have agreed that the litigation, and bellwether trials should focus on women with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. As a result, plaintiffs’ attorneys moved to dismiss claims involving other injuries without prejudice in May, meaning that plaintiffs would be able to refile their lawsuits if they receive one of those three cancer diagnoses in the future. According to the joint status report, defendants have identified 451 such claims that may be ripe for dismissal.

In November 2023, Judge Rowland ordered the parties to propose competing hair relaxer lawsuit bellwether trial plans, outlining a process for selecting a group of representative cases to go through case-specific discovery in preparation for early trial dates. However, the parties have been unable to agree on several key points regarding the selection of representative claims, as well as when the bellwether process should get underway.

The status report indicates the parties will await a decision by the court on several dismissal motions before attempting to implement a bellwether process.

Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Filed in State Courts

The hair relaxer litigation is not limited to federal court, however, and there is a good chance a hair relaxer lawsuit filed at the state level could be the first to go to trial.

According to the status report, there are 145 claims filed in Cook County, Illinois, where they have been consolidated before Judge Patrick T. Stanton. However, it is Judge Kathy M. Flanagan who is presiding over the trial calendar for the proceedings, and she is expected to eventually set trial dates for five hair relaxer lawsuits to go to trial, and may present trial dates at a hearing on November 26. She has directed plaintiffs to be ready to present their trial proposals.

There are another 126 claims spread across three state courts in Georgia as well, 26 claims pending in Pennsylvania state courts, four in New York, and one in Delaware.

Following coordinated discovery in the MDL and any early bellwether trials, if the parties fail to negotiate hair relaxer settlements for individuals diagnosed with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and other complications, Judge Rowland may later remand each individual lawsuit directly filed in the MDL back to the U.S. District Court where it would have originated for a separate trial in the future.