MDL statistics, 2014–2026

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation publishes its pending-docket roster as monthly PDFs. We digitized 101 of them into one clean time series — the only free, machine-readable history of the MDL roster we know of.

Pending MDLs by month

The long decline is real: fewer, larger consolidations. A falling count does not mean less litigation — the biggest MDLs hold tens of thousands of cases each.

Largest MDLs by pending actions

205,540 civil actions are pending across all 162 MDLs as of 2026-08-03 — the biggest dockets dominate:

Fastest-growing MDLs

Largest gains in pending actions over roughly the last quarter of reports — where new plaintiffs are actually filing:

Newest MDLs on the roster

Longest-running MDLs still pending

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