Hair Relaxer MDL Case Count History: Four Verified Federal Snapshots

The count line, with dates attached

JPML created MDL 3060 on February 6, 2023 by transferring nine actions to the Northern District of Illinois and noting 44 potentially related actions. That opening inventory is not directly interchangeable with later monthly statistics because potential tag-along actions have not necessarily been transferred. For a consistent history, this page uses the same two columns from four official active-docket reports: actions now pending and total actions historical.

On March 3, 2025, JPML listed 9,788 pending and 12,026 historical actions. The July 1, 2025 report listed 10,404 pending and 12,891 historical. On April 1, 2026, the figures were 11,371 and 15,504. The July 1, 2026 report then listed 11,877 pending and 16,059 historical. The pending inventory rose by 616, 967, and 506 across those intervals. Those are changes between snapshots, not month-by-month filing counts.

Why two numbers appear beside one MDL

Actions now pending is the active federal inventory on the report date. Total actions historical is cumulative: it reflects actions reported as filed in or transferred to the proceeding over its life. The July 2026 difference was 4,182 actions. That does not mean 4,182 plaintiffs settled, lost, or received payment. The public statistics report supplies no disposition label for the difference.

An action may stop being pending after voluntary or involuntary dismissal, remand, transfer correction, consolidation, or another procedural event. MDL 3060 has orders governing dismissal without prejudice and possible refiling, and individual docket entries can affect the aggregate. To describe a particular case as dismissed or resolved, a reporter needs its docket or an applicable order. The monthly JPML report is a reliable inventory tool, but it is not a settlement ledger.

A filed action is not a validated medical claim

The MDL coordinates allegations that chemical hair relaxer or straightener products caused uterine, ovarian, or other injuries and that defendants failed to warn or sold defective products. Defendants dispute liability. Centralization made recurring discovery and motion practice more efficient; it did not establish that every listed product causes cancer or that every plaintiff used the product she identified.

The court's short-form complaint and plaintiff fact sheet show the individualized work behind the total. Plaintiffs identify products, defendants, approximate use, diagnosis, treatment, and other information under the MDL's procedures. Product names, formulations, frequency, age at first use, salon versus home application, pathology, latency, and alternative risk factors can differ. A complaint enters a court count before those questions receive a final merits determination.

What is outside the JPML total

JPML's number does not include a person who has spoken with a lawyer but has not filed, every action that remains solely in state court, every user of a relaxer, or every diagnosis of uterine or ovarian cancer. It also is not an adverse-event database. Combining those categories with the federal count would create a larger number with no coherent definition or official source.

The figure is also not a measure of scientific certainty. The Sister Study reported observational associations involving frequent straightener or relaxer use, and the federal litigation developed after those publications. A rise in complaints may follow publicity, lawyer recruitment, procedural deadlines, or other factors. Docket growth itself cannot show that later research strengthened an association, that experts will be admitted, or that a defendant agreed to resolve cases.

How to read the next movement

A future pending total could rise even while cases are dismissed, because new filings can exceed departures. It could fall without a global settlement if dismissals or other dispositions exceed incoming actions. Historical totals can rise while pending inventory falls. The two-column structure is designed to preserve those different concepts, which is why responsible reporting records both rather than announcing only the larger number.

The defensible statement as of July 1, 2026 is narrow: MDL 3060 had 11,877 pending federal actions and 16,059 historical actions. The record does not turn that count into an average payment, a deadline, or a prediction of trial outcomes. For updates, check the report date printed inside the JPML PDF and the Northern District of Illinois MDL orders; search results can surface older reports without making the age obvious.

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