Paragard IUD Lawsuit: The Bellwether Trials and Where Things Stand

What the Lawsuits Allege

Paragard is a non-hormonal, copper-wrapped intrauterine device that has been available in the United States since 1988 and can prevent pregnancy for up to ten years. The lawsuits, consolidated as MDL 2974 in the Northern District of Georgia before Judge Leigh Martin May, allege the device plastic arms can fracture or break during removal, leaving fragments that may require surgery, including procedures like hysteroscopy or, in more severe cases, hysterectomy, and causing complications like bleeding, infection, organ perforation, or infertility.

Plaintiffs allege the manufacturers, originally Teva Pharmaceuticals and currently CooperSurgical, which acquired the product, knew about the breakage risk through adverse event reports and internal data but designed the device defectively and failed to adequately warn patients and physicians. More than 7,000 adverse event reports related to Paragard breakage have reportedly been submitted to the FDA, which conducted a safety review in 2021 that led to updated labeling, though the device has not been recalled.

The First Bellwether Trial Did Not Favor Plaintiffs

To manage a mass tort with thousands of individual cases, courts select a small number of representative cases, called bellwether trials, to test how juries respond to the evidence before larger settlement negotiations typically occur. In the Paragard MDL, the first bellwether trial, involving plaintiff Pauline Rickard, went to trial in January 2026 in Atlanta federal court.

In February 2026, the jury returned a defense verdict, finding that Teva was not liable and rejecting the plaintiff failure-to-warn and design-defect claims. This is an important and honest fact to know: the first real test of these claims before a jury did not go in the plaintiffs favor. A single bellwether result does not determine the outcome of other cases, and two more bellwether trials were scheduled for March and May 2026, but the initial defense win is a meaningful data point that has added uncertainty to the litigation rather than the clear momentum toward settlement that plaintiffs had hoped for.

Where Things Stand Now

As of this update, more than 4,000 cases remain pending in the MDL, and the litigation continues with additional bellwether trials. No global settlement has been reached, and given the first trial outcome, the timeline and likelihood of a settlement remain genuinely uncertain rather than a foregone conclusion.

Separately, some courts have ruled that the statute of limitations clock for these claims begins at the time the device breaks or the injury occurs, not when the injury is later connected to the device, which can be an important and sometimes unfavorable distinction for people who discover the connection well after the fact. Given both the trial uncertainty and the state-by-state variation in filing deadlines, anyone considering a claim should get a prompt, honest case evaluation from an attorney rather than assuming a large settlement is imminent.

How to Get Legal Help

If your Paragard IUD broke during removal, gather your medical records documenting the breakage, any symptoms you experienced, and records from any procedure to remove fragments, since this documentation is central to any claim. Because state filing deadlines for these claims can be short and some courts have ruled the clock starts at the time of the breakage itself rather than when it was discovered, prompt legal consultation is important even though the litigation outcome remains uncertain after the first trial result.

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