Tampon Lawsuit: Tampax Lead Class Certified, No Settlement
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The news is a court ruling, not a payout. On September 29, 2026 a federal judge in the Southern District of California certified a class of California buyers in Barton v. Procter & Gamble, the lawsuit alleging Tampax tampons contain lead that P&G does not disclose. That moves the case toward trial or settlement. As of October 2026 there is no settlement, no fund and no tampon lawsuit claim form.
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Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The complaint, filed July 29, 2024, alleges that Procter & Gamble fails to disclose that its Tampax Pearl tampons contain “an unsafe amount of lead.” It relies on the plaintiffs’ own lab testing and on California’s Proposition 65 limit of 0.5 micrograms of lead per day, and alleges that ordinary use exceeds it. The case is not a Proposition 65 suit and not an injury suit: it says buyers were misled by labels such as “#1 U.S. Gynecologist Recommended Tampon Brand” and “Free of Perfume” and paid for a product they would not have bought. Plaintiffs Allison Barton and Jana Moreno later also named Tampax Radiant. P&G disputes the claims and has challenged the plaintiffs’ testing.
The science is contested. In July 2026 the FDA announced its own study of 11 tampon products: trace metals are present, but “the amount released during use is too small to cause harm.”
Case Details
Barton, et al. v. The Procter & Gamble Company, No. 3:24-cv-01332-GPC-SBC, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, before Judge Gonzalo Curiel. A companion case over Kotex, Barton v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation, No. 3:24-cv-01337, was filed in the same court. On February 13, 2025 the court dismissed the fraud claims in both cases without prejudice and gave the plaintiff 25 days to amend. By August 2025 Judge Curiel had denied P&G’s motion to dismiss the amended Tampax case, keeping the “unlawful” and “fraudulent” Unfair Competition Law claims and sending it into discovery.
Status: Class Certified, No Settlement
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Who Is in the Class — and the Other Tampon Cases
The plaintiffs asked to represent California residents who bought the tampons in California within the last four years and who do not claim a personal injury. If you fit the class definition, you are in automatically unless you opt out once notice goes out. When notice goes out, it will explain how to opt out and what the deadline is.
Other cases under the same name:
— Kotex (Kimberly-Clark): No. 3:24-cv-01337, same court. Its current status after the 2025 dismissal with leave to amend is not confirmed.
— Tampax Pure Cotton (PFAS): dismissed with prejudice; final judgment for P&G on July 1, 2025 in the Northern District of California. Nothing payable.
— o.b. Organic and Playtex (PFAS): Lowe v. Edgewell, No. 3:23-cv-00834-LB, Northern District of California. In January 2024 the judge dismissed the claims, ruling the PFAS testing was insufficient, and set a schedule for a possible second amended complaint. We have not confirmed the later outcome. No settlement is known.
— Injury suit: seven California women sued P&G, Kimberly Clark, Edgewell and others on June 5, 2026, alleging reproductive harm from feminine-care products. It was removed to federal court on July 9, 2026. This is an injury case (reported as a class action by seven women), not a buyer class.
What Buyers Could Get
How cases like this one end
Our copy of the federal courts’ own case database covers 80,165 other statutory actions casesclosed in U.S. federal district courts between 2015 and 2025, 11.8% of them filed as class actions:
- 26% ended in a settlement recorded by the court. Another 22.4% were dismissed voluntarily, which often follows a private settlement — so the real settlement share sits between 26% and 48.4%.
- 7.4% were decided on a motion before any trial.
- 1 in 155 reached a trial (0.6%), after a median of 22 months.
- Median time from filing to the end of the case: 5 months.
- Only 1,717 of them (2.1%) record a money award at all; the median of those is $195,000.
These are base rates for this type of case (federal other statutory actions cases) — not a prediction about this lawsuit, and not legal advice. Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (civil), analysed by Settlement Insight. Cases heard in state courts are not included.
Tampon Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
July 29, 2024 — Tampax Lead Suit Filed
Barton v. Procter & Gamble is filed in the Southern District of California, alleging undisclosed lead in Tampax Pearl. A Kotex case against Kimberly-Clark follows the next day.
- 2
February 13, 2025 — First Dismissal, Leave to Amend
The court dismisses the fraud claims in both cases without prejudice and gives the plaintiff 25 days to refile.
- 3
July 1, 2025 — Pure Cotton PFAS Case Ends
A separate case over PFAS in Tampax Pure Cotton ends with final judgment for P&G, dismissed with prejudice.
- 4
August 2025 — Tampax Lead Case Survives
Judge Gonzalo Curiel denies P&G’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint, now covering Tampax Pearl and Radiant. Discovery begins.
- 5
July 6, 2026 — FDA Study Published
FDA reports that trace metals in 11 tampon products are released in amounts too small to cause harm.
- 6
September 29, 2026 — Class Certified
The court certifies a class of California buyers. As of October 2026 there is still no settlement or claim form.
Three Things to Watch For
A big headline with no claim form is the gap that fake sites fill:
“Tampax settlement claim portal is open” pages
Be wary of any page describing a Tampax claim portal or claim form. As of October 2026 none exists, because there is no settlement. A page asking for your Social Security number or bank details to “reserve your payout” is collecting data.
Injury sign-ups using the class ruling
The Barton case is about the purchase price, and the plaintiffs’ proposed class excluded personal-injury claims. Ads saying “the tampon lead class was approved — claim for infertility or endometriosis” are mixing two things. Injury cases are individual suits with a retainer; read it before you sign.
Fees to “join” the class
You do not apply to join a certified class and nobody can charge you to be in it. A real notice comes from a court-appointed administrator, names the case number 3:24-cv-01332, and never asks for a fee.
Tampon Lawsuit — Questions People Actually Ask
Is there a tampon lawsuit claim form?
No. As of October 2026 there is no settlement in any tampon lawsuit, so there is no claim form, no administrator and no deadline. If the Tampax lead case settles, class members will be notified with an official website and form.
What happened in September 2026?
On September 29, 2026 the federal court in the Southern District of California certified a class of California buyers in Barton v. Procter & Gamble, No. 3:24-cv-01332. The case can now go forward on behalf of the group. It is not a settlement.
I don’t live in California. Am I included?
Based on the reporting and the plaintiffs’ proposed class, the certified class covers California buyers. Out-of-state buyers are not part of it unless the full order says otherwise, which we have not been able to confirm.
Which brands are involved?
The certified case is about Tampax, made by Procter & Gamble (Pearl, and in the amended complaint Radiant). A parallel case named Kotex. The PFAS case over Tampax Pure Cotton was dismissed with prejudice; the o.b. Organic and Playtex Gentle Glide PFAS claims were dismissed in January 2024 with a possible amended complaint to follow, and we have not confirmed the later outcome.
Do tampons really contain lead?
A 2024 UC Berkeley study found trace amounts of 16 metals in tampons. The FDA tested 11 products and reported in July 2026 that trace metals are present but the amount released during use is too small to cause harm. The lawsuit alleges the levels are unsafe; P&G disputes that.
Can I sue for an injury I think tampons caused?
Probably not through the Barton case, which is a purchase-price case and which the plaintiffs framed as excluding injury claims. Injury claims are separate lawsuits, like the June 5, 2026 case brought by seven California women against several manufacturers (reported as a class action over injuries). Talk to a licensed attorney before signing anything.
Do I need to keep receipts?
It helps. Nobody can say yet what proof a future settlement would require. Saving receipts or online order history for Tampax purchases in California costs nothing.
How will I know if money becomes available?
A court-appointed administrator would publish notice and an official website. You can also check our list of open class action settlements. Until then, any site offering a Tampax payout is not official.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
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