Case Filings Alert™ reports daily on new cases filed in courts around the country, alerting you to significant new cases at the beginning of the litigation process, long before the case is settled or a decision handed down. A wide range of topics are covered, including product liability, intellectual property, antitrust, among others. A number of these cases, particularly the product liability litigation, will develop into mass torts as new cases raising similar issues are filed. Mass torts are covered in our report MDLCases.com, which deals with major multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases. Also see our litigation reports: Social Media Addiction, Copyright-Litigation.com, and Litigation Report 2026. Editor: Robert S. Want (rwant@LegalEditor.com).
March 16, 2026 – Product Liability
School District Sues Video Game Companies, Alleging Games Cause Harm to Students
An Ohio school district has sued two major video game producers — Microsoft and Roblox — claiming that their video games cause addiction issues that have behavioral and financial consequences for the district and its students.
“America’s students are facing a mental health crisis caused by excessive and compulsive video game use that school districts across the country, like plaintiff, are battling from the front lines,” the school district says in its complaint filed in Cleveland federal court. “Predictably, this crisis, of defendants’ own making in their quest for profit, was tragically … brought to the doorsteps of plaintiff’s schools by defendants.”
In its lawsuit, the school district argues that defendants intentionally use psychological techniques to design, develop, and promote gaming systems that attract users and keep them addicted. “Defendants’ video games formed a gateway to video game addiction and left school districts, which are on the front lines of the many challenges facing America’s youth, with the daunting task of responding to the crisis of video game addiction,” the complaint says.
March 13, 2026 – Consumer Fraud
Bayer Sues J&J Over ‘51% Reduction’ Claim in Prostate Cancer Drug
Bayer HealthCare has sued Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Biotech unit, accusing the companies of falsely advertising that J&J’s prostate cancer drug Erleada reduces the risk of death by 51% compared with Bayer’s rival therapy Nubeqa.
According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, defendant J&J launched a campaign in February 2026 touting a “Real-world head-to-head analysis [that] shows 51% reduction in risk of death” for Erleada versus darolutamide, Nubeqa’s active ingredient, “through 24 months.” That statement, the complaint says, conveys “definitive and quantitative clinical superiority” that the underlying data cannot support.
The lawsuit argues that J&J relied on a retrospective observational analysis of real-world data rather than a randomized clinical trial, the “gold standard ” for establishing treatment superiority. Bayer further contends that the study involved non-comparable patient groups, including widespread off-label use of Nubeqa during the study period, and suffered from imbalanced cohort sizes and incomplete follow-up data.
March 12, 2026 – Antitrust
UGGs Maker Faces Antitrust Claim for ‘Sham’ Trade Dress Lawsuits
Online retailer Quince has sued UGGs maker Deckers Outdoor Corp., accusing the footwear company of running a yearslong “litigation assembly line” to stifle lower-priced rivals in the sheepskin boot market.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Northern California, Quince alleges Deckers violated the Sherman Act by filing “hundreds of sham trade dress lawsuits” asserting rights over common product features such as suede exteriors, shearling linings, rounded toes, and thick soles. Deckers recycles “template complaints” that label designs “unique,” “inherently distinctive,” and “non-functional” without adequate support, the complaint alleges.
Quince says in its lawsuit that courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have rejected key aspects of Deckers’ trade dress claims, including a 2025 ruling by the patent office that certain UGG designs were “generic and unprotectable.” Despite that ruling, plaintiff argues, Deckers continued to file suits involving the same issues. The complaint contends that Deckers times its suits to coincide with peak winter sales, forcing competitors to withdraw products or incur heavy legal costs.
March 11, 2026 – Product Liability
GM Challenged Over Alleged Brake Defect in Equinox and Envision Vehicles
A proposed class action filed in Detroit federal court accuses General Motors of knowingly selling vehicles with a defective brake vacuum pump system that can cause sudden loss of power brake assist and catastrophic engine damage.
The complaint, brought on behalf of owners and lessees of certain 2016–2020 Buick Envision, 2018–2022 Chevrolet Equinox, and 2018–2022 GMC Terrain models, alleges that GM “chose profits over safety” by marketing vehicles with a brake system defect that “significantly increases stopping distances and compromises drivers’ ability to brake effectively.”
When the vacuum pump fails, according to the complaint, the brake pedal can become “rock-hard, unresponsive, and nearly impossible to depress,” requiring “extraordinary physical force” to stop the vehicle. Plaintiffs cite more than 300 complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documenting crashes, injuries, and near-misses allegedly tied to the defect. GM knew of the problem as early as 2017, issued technical service bulletins, and even redesigned the system in later model years, yet failed to recall affected vehicles, plaintiffs claim.
March 10, 2026 – Labor & Employment
EEOC Sues Coca-Cola Over Alleged Sex-Based Exclusion From Company Event
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast Inc., alleging the company violated federal law by excluding male employees from a company-sponsored networking trip on the basis of their sex.
The company denied male employees “the same compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment offered and provided to female employees,” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the complaint filed in federal court in the District of New Hampshire. Coca-Cola Northeast privately invited female employees to a 2024 trip and networking event at the Mohegan Sun and Casino in Connecticut, the complaint says, but “did not invite male employees to the event.” About 250 female employees attended.
The event included a social reception, team-building exercises, and talks by executives. The EEOC states that the female attendees were excused from work with pay, and the company covered hotel costs and provided food and beverages. The exclusion was intentional, the agency argues, and carried out with “malice or reckless indifference” to male employees’ rights.
March 9, 2026 – Environment
EPA Sued Over Roll Back of Landmark Environmental Protection
A coalition of health and environmental organizations has sued the Trump administration over its decision to reverse the 2009 landmark scientific conclusion — known as the Endangerment Finding — that carbon dioxide pollution endangers human health, a finding that has served as the basis for a wide range of climate regulations.
The EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding had been the foundation of the nation’s efforts to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act and has repeatedly been upheld by federal courts, according to the petition filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Led by the American Public Health Association, the coalition comprises 17 organizations, including the American Lung Association, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, and Union of Concerned Scientists, among others.
The petition states that the 2009 finding stems from a 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are unambiguously air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and instructed the EPA to determine whether the pollution endangers human health. Plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration’s rationale for the rollback was a rehashing of legal arguments the Supreme Court considered and rejected in the 2007 case.
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Litigation Report 2026
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