Latest / The Jon and Marc Podcast / Mass Tort Power Rankings: Top 10 Cases to Watch Right Now (October 2025)

Transcript

Mass Tort Power Rankings: Top 10 Cases to Watch Right Now (October 2025) · The Jon and Marc Podcast

• 0:09
  Today on Tortalk, we are hitting you with the 1st edition of
• 0:13
  Tortalk's Power Rankings. We're not talking about NFL
• 0:16
  rankings. We're not talking about ranking
• 0:18
  songs on Taylor Swift's new album.
• 0:20
  We're talking about ranking. What are the mass torts that you
• 0:22
  should be interested in, maybe you should be investing in?
• 0:25
  Maybe you want to know what's going on with the various mass
• 0:27
  torts that you have acquired already in your docket?
• 0:30
  We've got Joe Fantini here to explain the top 10 torts for
• 0:33
  you. Yeah, thanks for having me, John
• 0:36
  and Mark excited to go over this and again, these are the cases
• 0:39
  that right now I see the best opportunity to get involved with
• 0:43
  excited to go over the top ten with you guys here today we're.
• 0:47
  Going to be running this series every month, updating this as we
• 0:51
  do fit. Going off the knowledge and
• 0:53
  expertise of Joe, we're excited to get into it Stay.
• 0:55
  Tuned till the end and we'll after we get through the top
• 0:58
  ten, we're also going to tell you the ones that you maybe a
• 1:00
  little bit too late to the game on and ones that you should be
• 1:02
  watching that may hit the power rankings next month.
• 1:05
  Starting things off coming in at #10 we have Bear Hugger.
• 1:09
  Bear Hugger's a legacy mass tort.
• 1:11
  We started talking about it a few weeks ago.
• 1:13
  Things are starting to move a little bit.
• 1:15
  We're poaching about 10,000 cases filed.
• 1:18
  Where do we currently stand with this case, Joe?
• 1:20
  Anytime we get a mass tort that gets towards that 10,000 case
• 1:24
  number, that really piques my interest.
• 1:26
  So we've been litigating this case for almost 10 years.
• 1:31
  We're seeing a lot of action going on with case remands,
• 1:35
  maybe some bellwether trials coming up.
• 1:37
  The defendants are doing the docket control mechanisms to
• 1:41
  really get a idea on the total case count.
• 1:44
  So I think this is a case you should have some interest in,
• 1:47
  but there's definitely some better opportunities out there
• 1:49
  for you right now. Interesting to see Bear Hugger
• 1:51
  again. It's, it's been around for so
• 1:53
  long to break into the top 10, but coming in at #9 we have GLP
• 1:58
  1 weight loss drugs. So that's Ozempic, Wegovi, et
• 2:02
  cetera. We're looking at both the
• 2:03
  intestinal injury cases as well as the vision loss cases.
• 2:07
  They both potentially appear to be viable.
• 2:09
  What should we be focusing on in these cases right now?
• 2:11
  Yeah. Right now with the weight loss
• 2:13
  cases, it seems like the buzz has shifted from the intestinal
• 2:17
  injury cases, which was the initial injury that formed the
• 2:21
  MDL, to more of these vision loss cases.
• 2:23
  It seems like the vision loss cases, the science is really
• 2:27
  there. The case value could be higher,
• 2:29
  but in the MDL we still have more than 2000 cases filed.
• 2:33
  So we're really waiting to see how those two litigations play
• 2:36
  out with the potential client pool of hundreds of thousands of
• 2:40
  potential clients. This is one that you should keep
• 2:44
  on your radar. But again, I think there's some
• 2:47
  definitely better opportunities out there with more mature torts
• 2:51
  that are further along in the process.
• 2:53
  But this is 1 where there's been a lot of interest in the past
• 2:56
  and it still seems like a viable case do.
• 2:58
  You think that firms that are not yet acquiring weight loss
• 3:01
  cases should be focusing on the vision injury over the
• 3:04
  intestinal injury at this point? Those dudes seem like the
• 3:07
  stronger cases, but remember they're going to be a lot less
• 3:11
  of those vision loss cases. So ultimately I think we get
• 3:14
  past that 10,020 thousand threshold for the
• 3:17
  gastrointestinal injuries as it relates to the vision loss
• 3:21
  cases. You know, I would say maybe
• 3:23
  we're going to get to the 3 to 5000 number cases.
• 3:26
  So in reality, it's going to be a lot easier to get the
• 3:29
  intestinal injury cases. But either 1 you come across,
• 3:33
  definitely sign it up, investigate it.
• 3:35
  It seems like they'll both be viable at the end of the day.
• 3:38
  Coming in at #8 we have a case that was very hot earlier this
• 3:42
  year. The DEPO Provera brain tumor
• 3:44
  cases were eagerly awaiting the court's preemption ruling.
• 3:47
  Case could be a very quick riser over the next month.
• 3:50
  What can you tell us about Depo? Yeah.
• 3:53
  Like you said, John, this is one that could be our biggest riser
• 3:56
  in the next couple months if we get a positive ruling on the
• 4:00
  preemption. So the judge is basically
• 4:02
  considering now Pfizer's argument that all of the failure
• 4:05
  to warn state claims are preempted by federal law because
• 4:09
  they basically, according to Pfizer, went to the FDA and said
• 4:12
  they wanted to put this updated warning on there in 2024 and the
• 4:17
  FDA shot it down. If we are successful in beating
• 4:20
  back this motion, which I expect ruling on before the end of the
• 4:24
  year, the case count is going to skyrocket.
• 4:27
  However, one thing we've noticed during this case acquisition
• 4:31
  process is getting records going back twenty, 30-40 years has
• 4:35
  been challenging in these cases. So I think we could end up with
• 4:39
  the total case population of maybe 20, 30,000.
• 4:44
  So it's one to watch, but everybody's kind of pumping the
• 4:47
  brakes right now waiting for this important rolling.
• 4:50
  In at #7 we have talcum powder. This is another legacy mass tort
• 4:55
  on the list. Do you think there's still time
• 4:57
  to acquire cases in talc? Yeah, This is the most mature
• 5:01
  mass tort out there, more than 70,000 cases pending and we saw
• 5:05
  with the failed bankruptcy, J&J does want to pay something on
• 5:10
  these cases. Not enough.
• 5:11
  What we think is deserving for these clients who've been
• 5:14
  through so much. What we have going on is there's
• 5:17
  this court order mediation ongoing with new leadership for
• 5:21
  the plaintiffs council. It seems like the court and the
• 5:24
  judge is really trying to push this towards a settlement.
• 5:27
  We have a bellwether case coming up at the end of 2025.
• 5:30
  So for the first time in a long time, I'm I'm optimistic that
• 5:34
  this case will get resolved. I think there's a little bit of
• 5:37
  time left, but since there's so many cases already filed, the
• 5:40
  remaining potential cases out there is not going to be as
• 5:43
  large as some of the other torts a little bit higher up on the
• 5:46
  list. So it.
• 5:47
  Seems like the messaging here and validate this or not is if
• 5:50
  you could find a case, acquire it, but if not, kind of move on
• 5:54
  and find some of the other case types that that could have a
• 5:57
  little bit more potential. Yeah, exactly.
• 5:59
  A lot of the cases are already filed at this point, so most of
• 6:03
  them are accounted for. Coming in at #6 we have a case
• 6:07
  that has a bellwether trial, the first bellwether coming up in
• 6:10
  November. It's social media addiction.
• 6:12
  What's going on with that case? Are we just sitting waiting for
• 6:15
  that bellwether to happen? We talked a little bit before in
• 6:18
  another episode about the social media addiction.
• 6:20
  There's about two to 3000 cases pending this all important
• 6:24
  bellwether trials coming up in November.
• 6:26
  That's really going to give us an indication of how these cases
• 6:30
  play out. I don't think, and I haven't
• 6:32
  really heard much about settlements on a global level in
• 6:35
  these cases. So I think once we get that
• 6:38
  ruling from the jury before the end of the year, we'll have some
• 6:41
  momentum and more people will be getting involved in that
• 6:44
  litigation. When we're talking about social
• 6:46
  media addiction, and I know that we have covered this before, but
• 6:48
  specifically which platforms are included in this MDL?
• 6:52
  Yeah. So for these, we're looking at
• 6:54
  kind of the big players, we're looking at TikTok, we're looking
• 6:57
  at Facebook now called Meta Snap.
• 6:59
  So those are the the main players in this litigation in
• 7:03
  the social media addiction one. Moving on to #5 another
• 7:07
  addiction case type, we're looking at video game addiction.
• 7:10
  It's the first one in the top five here.
• 7:12
  Everyone is really buzzing about this case.
• 7:14
  Why is video game addiction something that people should be
• 7:17
  looking at as we kind of look to closeout 2025?
• 7:20
  Yeah, this is a case where it's not going to be as mature as
• 7:23
  other cases in the top five. So there's definitely a little
• 7:26
  bit of risk in, but what we're seeing is in the industry,
• 7:29
  everybody is really, really excited about this case.
• 7:32
  There's been firms that have been working on it for years.
• 7:35
  We have a centralized consolidated action ongoing in
• 7:39
  California. The potential pool of these
• 7:41
  injured miners is in the hundreds of thousands of cases.
• 7:45
  So as the case is developed and we learn more, it's really
• 7:49
  coming out how bad and how addictive these platforms were.
• 7:53
  So what we're going to see is, in my eyes, a tort that ends up
• 7:57
  with probably more than 200,000 claimants.
• 8:01
  So there's a lot of opportunity to get in.
• 8:03
  But remember, this is a newer tort, so you're going to be
• 8:06
  carrying the case for a number of years, but the opportunity
• 8:09
  seems right to get involved now. At #4 we have a case that had
• 8:13
  its first bellwether trial resolved last week.
• 8:16
  Uber sex abuse. Why is this case still in the
• 8:18
  top five after that first bellwether?
• 8:20
  Definitely a set back in that first bellwether and people
• 8:23
  would be surprised some of the viewers here to see this in the
• 8:27
  top five after the loss. But you have to understand in a
• 8:30
  mass tort, it's not always the result of that jury trial.
• 8:34
  It's getting to the jury is what matters most.
• 8:37
  So we have other bellwether cases teed up that are going to
• 8:40
  be going to trial. I think the next one coming up
• 8:43
  is going to be in the MDL in January.
• 8:46
  And what everybody needs to remember is that the jury in the
• 8:49
  first bellwether trial did find that Uber was negligent for what
• 8:54
  happened and their failure to bet and the hired these drivers.
• 8:58
  There wasn't that causation connection that would have
• 9:01
  gotten us a a plaintiff verdict. So taking that information,
• 9:04
  learning from that, I think we're going to see this case
• 9:07
  continue to build. And I'm feeling positive about
• 9:11
  the next Uber sex abuse trial. I think the plans come out on
• 9:14
  top on that one. That'll be very interesting.
• 9:16
  How do how do you think that the MDL bellwether would then affect
• 9:20
  the California cases that are consolidated?
• 9:23
  Yeah. So they're different
• 9:24
  litigations, but they involve the same party.
• 9:27
  So we usually see in the bigger mass torts a parallel state
• 9:31
  court action. So we get different ruling from
• 9:33
  the judges. But if we get a positive ruling,
• 9:36
  a positive jury verdict in the MDL, that Ole Miss is going to
• 9:40
  give us the playbook that we can then use and implement in the
• 9:44
  state court action. So they're different, but once
• 9:46
  we get momentum in one of the two, it usually helps for the
• 9:50
  other. One, I love that you not only
• 9:51
  report on the news of what happens, but you actually
• 9:54
  analyze it and help us understand how this is going to
• 9:56
  affect the future cases as well. Coming in at #3 we've got toxic
• 10:00
  baby food, so relatively risky mass tort.
• 10:04
  We have an argument scheduled for December.
• 10:06
  Is this one at #3 really worth the risk?
• 10:09
  This is really risky. I'm not going to assure anybody
• 10:12
  of anything. And compared to the top 2, the
• 10:16
  risk is significant. But if you want to get an
• 10:19
  involved in a case that's going to make a big difference, I
• 10:22
  think this is the one to do it. We have some really
• 10:25
  sophisticated firms leading this litigation.
• 10:28
  The science keeps getting stronger day in and day out.
• 10:31
  Everybody agrees that the autism issues and the ADHD is it's an
• 10:36
  epidemic in this country. So something's going to be done.
• 10:39
  I feel like we're going to win this argument in December and
• 10:42
  then this litigation is going to be off and running.
• 10:45
  This tort. It might only be an opportunity
• 10:48
  for some of those more experienced or seasoned mass
• 10:51
  tort law firms. But I can tell you all of the
• 10:54
  top mass tort firms, they're all in on this one.
• 10:57
  I would follow their lead because they're usually right.
• 11:00
  We've got 2. Left in our power rankings,
• 11:03
  coming in at #2 we have hair relaxer.
• 11:06
  It's a relatively mature mass tort settlement.
• 11:08
  Negotiations with the mediator have begun.
• 11:11
  We've got a bellwether trial date set for 2026.
• 11:15
  Is that correct? Yeah, that's right.
• 11:16
  So this is a case that I like for a lot of reasons that you
• 11:20
  mentioned. It's really mature.
• 11:22
  And what I mean by that is this MDL has been going on for years.
• 11:26
  We're past that 10,000 number case count.
• 11:29
  That's another big indicator for me.
• 11:31
  We're holding firm for the signed stay in the beginning of
• 11:34
  January and then we're going to have the trial, like you said,
• 11:38
  within nine months. It's a little more complicated
• 11:40
  this case because we have a lot of different defendants and that
• 11:44
  always makes settlement negotiations harder because we
• 11:47
  have to get not just the plaintiffs but also multiple
• 11:50
  defense attorneys to agree. But I think we're going to get
• 11:53
  there and I feel really positive on this.
• 11:56
  I honestly don't see any reason why these cases should get
• 11:59
  kicked. So this is one that I'm really
• 12:02
  excited about. I think the case counts going to
• 12:04
  continue to build and we'll have a positive outcome here.
• 12:08
  Before we release the number one power ranking, let's go through
• 12:11
  ones that just didn't make the top 10 ones to watch.
• 12:16
  They're the the top mass torts that people should be paying
• 12:18
  attention to that didn't hit the top 10.
• 12:20
  Yeah, there's two that gots everybody's interest.
• 12:23
  They're going to be Roblox and Tylenol.
• 12:25
  So we talked about Tylenol. Everybody knows we had the MDL
• 12:29
  foreign previously. The judge excluded our experts
• 12:33
  basically ending the litigation. We appealed that up to the
• 12:36
  Second Circuit. There was supposed to be OR
• 12:39
  argument, but that got postponed after the FDA came out and said
• 12:43
  that there was a connection between autism and Tylenol being
• 12:48
  used by pregnant women. We're going to have an argument
• 12:50
  in November. It seems like momentum's
• 12:53
  building for that decision to get overturned.
• 12:56
  And then there could be a huge MDL flowing, which we're all
• 12:59
  pretty excited about. Roblox, this is a new kid on the
• 13:02
  block, right? We talked about how they just
• 13:05
  filed the petition to have the JPML here, the oral argument on
• 13:09
  consolidation to form the new mass tort.
• 13:12
  What that means in layman's turn is we got about 30 or 40 cases
• 13:16
  on file. We want to get a mass tour going
• 13:18
  in front of an MDL judge. It takes about six months for it
• 13:21
  to really happen, but we're going to have the argument in
• 13:24
  December and then those cases are going to build.
• 13:27
  So in 2026, those are the two masked torts that aren't right
• 13:32
  now in our top ten that everybody should expect to see
• 13:35
  there. And rounding out our top ten,
• 13:37
  our number one mass tort in our power rankings, is Roundup.
• 13:42
  Rumors of inventory settlements are everywhere.
• 13:44
  Bear's Supreme Court writ is pending there.
• 13:47
  Seems like there's just a little bit of time left.
• 13:48
  What can you tell us about Roundup and why it hits the
• 13:51
  number one spot? It's in the number one spot for
• 13:53
  me because we know the road map, we know the plan on how to get
• 13:57
  people compensated in these cases.
• 14:00
  Basically what happened is Bear has already paid 100,000 cases,
• 14:05
  10 billion dollars from their public statements.
• 14:07
  We're hearing about how they've added an additional $1.5 billion
• 14:13
  to the reserves to pay the litigation costs up over about 6
• 14:17
  or $7 billion. We heard earlier this year from
• 14:20
  Bayer that there was a large inventory settlement with the
• 14:23
  law firm and that's telling me that they're settling these
• 14:26
  cases. The writ is pending for the
• 14:28
  Supreme Court. Whether or not they take it up,
• 14:31
  we don't know. Even if they do, the argument
• 14:33
  likely won't be until June of next.
• 14:36
  So right now, I think we're in this window where there's a
• 14:39
  little bit more time to get some cases and get them resolved.
• 14:42
  But a sure thing. It almost seems like there isn't
• 14:45
  in mass torts, but because we've already seen $10 billion paid
• 14:49
  out, that's why it's in the number one spot for me.
• 14:53
  Thank you so much, Joe. We've got the top 10 here.
• 14:55
  We'll be revisiting the power rankings every month.
• 14:58
  What are the masked torts that didn't crack the top ten and
• 15:02
  likely will never crack the top 10 again because they're too
• 15:04
  late to the game? Yeah, there's a couple that
• 15:07
  we've seen deadlines come out. The one that jumps out to me as
• 15:11
  a triple F. So the court imposed a filing
• 15:13
  deadline of mid-september to get the cases on file.
• 15:16
  If you didn't do that, you're going to have to do a lot of
• 15:19
  casework up with an expert report.
• 15:22
  So I just don't see that one being heavily pursued going
• 15:25
  forward. Another one that is probably a
• 15:28
  little bit too late potentially is Suboxone.
• 15:30
  Again, we saw a mass filing going on earlier this year where
• 15:34
  most of the cases got on record. So there could be some
• 15:37
  additional cases trickling in. But those two cases I wouldn't
• 15:42
  be personally investing a ton in because I think maybe the
• 15:45
  opportunities passed and the cases on our top ten list are
• 15:49
  the ones where I'd be putting my attention.
• 15:52
  Excellent. Those are you watching?
• 15:53
  Please let us know in the comments.
• 15:55
  Do you agree with Joe's top ten? Are there mass torts that you
• 15:58
  think should be in the top ten that didn't make it?
• 16:00
  Do you think we should be reordering this?
• 16:02
  Let us know your thoughts. Also, if you're finding yourself
• 16:05
  as a local firm coming across any of these cases and you don't
• 16:08
  know what you should be doing with them, reach out to Joe.
• 16:11
  He's the best resource that we know on what to do with mass
• 16:14
  torts. We've got MTMP coming up here
• 16:16
  again, only a few weeks away. We'll be redoing these mass tort
• 16:19
  power rankings right after MTMP. Joe, thank you so much for
• 16:23
  joining us. He went a little bit over the 10
• 16:24
  minute mark today, but I think this is one of our most valuable
• 16:27
  Tort Talk episodes to date. Yeah.
• 16:28
  Thanks for having me, John. Looking forward to seeing
• 16:31
  everybody out in Vegas in a couple weeks.