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Last updated: November 10, 2026
The spinal cord stimulator lawsuits are now organized into three federal proceedings, one each for Boston Scientific, Abbott and Nevro, and November 2026 is the month they start moving. The Abbott court holds its first hearing on November 12. Boston Scientific’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ master complaint is due November 20. Nevro leadership applications are due November 30. As of November 2, 2026 there were 113 cases pending across the three: 62 against Boston Scientific, 27 against Abbott and 24 against Nevro. No case has been tried or settled.
Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuits at a Glance
- Cases pending: 113 as of November 2, 2026: Boston Scientific 62, Abbott 27, Nevro 24.
- Courts: three separate MDLs (3181, 3194 and 3195); Medtronic cases are not centralized.
- Next dates: Abbott hearing November 12; Boston Scientific motions to dismiss due November 20; Nevro leadership applications due November 30; Nevro conference December 18.
- Trials and settlements: none.
- Deadlines: state law sets them: one year in Tennessee, two in Alabama and Georgia, three in North Carolina.
We update this post as the courts act. For the full background on the devices, the injuries and who may qualify, see our spinal cord stimulator lawsuit guide.
What Happens Next
| Date | Proceeding | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 12, 2026 | Abbott, MDL 3194 | Initial hearing before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins in Chicago; the court will discuss how plaintiffs’ leadership will be chosen |
| Nov. 20, 2026 | Boston Scientific, MDL 3181 | Deadline for motions to dismiss the consolidated personal injury complaint and the consolidated complaint against the FDA |
| Nov. 30, 2026 | Nevro, MDL 3195 | Applications for plaintiffs’ lead counsel and steering committee due |
| Dec. 4, 2026 | Boston Scientific, MDL 3181 | Status conference before Judge Josephine L. Staton |
| Dec. 18, 2026 | Nevro, MDL 3195 | First in-person status conference before Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. in Oakland |
| Dec. 18, 2026 | Boston Scientific, MDL 3181 | Oppositions due on the motions to dismiss the FDA track |
| Feb. 5, 2027 or later | Boston Scientific, MDL 3181 | Earliest hearing on the FDA-track motions; status conference the same day |
Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit Timeline
November 2, 2026: 113 cases pending in three MDLs
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s monthly report lists 62 cases pending in the Boston Scientific proceeding, up from 41 a month earlier, 27 in the Abbott proceeding and 24 in the Nevro proceeding. The numbers count lawsuits, not patients, and they are still small. Lawyers who asked for the Nevro MDL told the Panel they alone represent about 300 potential plaintiffs, so the dockets are expected to grow.
October 23, 2026: Boston Scientific master complaint filed
Plaintiffs’ lead counsel filed the consolidated personal injury complaint in MDL 3181, the single document that states the common claims for every Boston Scientific plaintiff. It ties the company’s current stimulator systems to one FDA approval, PMA P030017, first granted in 2004, and alleges the later devices reached the market through supplements without new clinical testing. A separate consolidated complaint against the FDA under the Administrative Procedure Act was filed the same day.
October 20, 2026: Pretrial Order No. 6 sets the schedule
Judge Staton split the Boston Scientific litigation into a Personal Injury Track and an APA Track and set November 20, 2026 as the deadline for motions to dismiss both consolidated complaints. The order also allows Boston Scientific to seek dismissal, on statute of limitations grounds, of four cases that name more than one manufacturer. That is an early sign that deadlines will be contested in the MDL just as they were in Minnesota.
October 13 and 14, 2026: first orders in the Abbott and Nevro MDLs
Judge Jenkins entered Case Management Order No. 1 in the Abbott MDL on October 13, pausing discovery and setting the November 12 hearing. Judge Gilliam entered Pretrial Order No. 1 in the Nevro MDL on October 14, pausing discovery and pending motions and setting the leadership application deadline and the December 18 conference.
October 2, 2026: Abbott and Nevro MDLs created
The Panel centralized the Abbott cases as MDL 3194 in the Northern District of Illinois and the Nevro cases as MDL 3195 in the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs had suggested sending both to the Boston Scientific judge. The Panel declined, writing that “little efficiency will be gained by placing SCS device MDLs against multiple manufacturers before one judge.” At the time there were 26 Abbott cases in thirteen districts and 23 Nevro cases in ten.
September 3, 2026: FDA announces Class I recall of Boston Scientific leads
The FDA announced that Boston Scientific’s removal of unused Infinion CX leads was a Class I recall, its most serious category. The company had reported 1,081 serious injuries as of May 27, 2026. The recall does not apply to leads already implanted. We explain it in our post on the Infinion CX recall.
August 2026: leadership and direct filing in the Boston Scientific MDL
After an initial conference on August 5, Judge Staton appointed the plaintiffs’ leadership team on August 13 and entered a direct filing order on August 18. New Boston Scientific cases can now be filed directly in the MDL from any state, and a directly filed complaint stops the limitations clock on its filing date.
July 14, 2026: Medtronic wins dismissals in Minnesota
In the first major ruling of the litigation, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota dismissed several Medtronic stimulator plaintiffs with prejudice because their claims were filed too late under their home states’ law, held that most of the remaining claims were preempted as pleaded, and ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the FDA. Reports of the order say three of the four plaintiffs were barred by the one-year deadlines of Tennessee and Kentucky. Medtronic cases remain outside any MDL.
June 5, 2026: Boston Scientific MDL created
The Panel created MDL 3181 in the Central District of California before Judge Staton, covering 23 Boston Scientific cases then pending in nine districts. It refused the plaintiffs’ request for one industry-wide MDL because the complaints “do not allege the manufacturers acted in concert” and each company’s devices have their own regulatory history.
May 2026: a Nevro case survives in Maryland
In DiToto v. Nevro a federal court in Maryland allowed most of a patient’s claims to proceed and held that claims based on a failure to report adverse events to the FDA were not preempted. The case has since been transferred into the Nevro MDL.
February 20, 2026: plaintiffs ask for an MDL
A group of plaintiffs filed the motion that started the process, asking the Panel to centralize stimulator cases against Boston Scientific and Abbott.
What the Updates Mean If You Have a Stimulator
Three things follow from where the cases stand. First, it is early. There is no settlement to join and no claim form to fill out, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. Second, the rulings that will decide the value of these cases, on federal preemption, have not been made in any of the MDLs; the first will come on Boston Scientific’s motion, which will not be decided before 2027. Third, the deadline to file is running now and is set by your state, not by the MDL. Tennessee allows one year, Alabama and Georgia two, North Carolina three, and courts are counting from the first sign of trouble with the device. See the state guides for Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit Update FAQs
How many spinal cord stimulator lawsuits have been filed?
As of November 2, 2026, 113 lawsuits were pending in the three federal MDLs: 62 against Boston Scientific, 27 against Abbott and 24 against Nevro. Medtronic cases and state court cases are not included in that count.
When will the spinal cord stimulator lawsuits settle?
No one knows, and no settlement talks have been reported. The MDLs were created in June and October 2026. No trial dates or bellwether schedules have been set, and the courts have not yet ruled on the manufacturers’ preemption defense.
Is it too late to file a spinal cord stimulator lawsuit?
The MDLs are open and new cases are being filed every month. Whether your own claim is still on time depends on your state’s deadline and on when the device first caused you trouble.
Is there a Medtronic spinal cord stimulator MDL?
No. Medtronic stimulator cases have not been centralized and no request to centralize them is pending. They are proceeding individually, several of them in federal court in Minnesota.
If your stimulator has shocked or burned you, migrated, failed or had to be revised or removed, Fob & Foster Personal Injury Lawyers will review the claim at no charge. Call (205) 407-6009.
Related Practice Areas
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Alabama Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Georgia Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Tennessee Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- North Carolina Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Verdicts and Settlements
- Boston Scientific Infinion CX Lead Recall
- Boston Scientific Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Abbott Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Nevro Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
- Medtronic Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuit
Fob James, IV
Fob James obtained a B.S., in software engineering from Auburn University and then continued his education by getting his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. After working for a large national firm for several years, Fob found that his passion was fighting for individuals who have been seriously injured or wronged by others. Fob believes that the jury is the great equalizer to the power and influence that large corporations have in society. Many of Fob’s cases are high profile and have been featured in, among others: Bloomberg News, PlanAdvisor, AL.com, PlanSponsor, National Law Review, and BusinessInsider. For his work in obtaining numerous multi-million dollar outcomes for his clients, Fob has been recognized by: National Trial Lawyers Top 100, SuperLawyers Rising Star (2020-2026), Birmingham Business Journal Who’s Who in Law (2023-2025), and TrustAnalytica – Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Alabama.