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      {
        "text": "IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE",
        "paragraph_id": "para_1"
      },
      {
        "text": "IN RE: DEPO-PROVERA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_2"
      },
      {
        "text": "LITIGATION",
        "paragraph_id": "para_3"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ No. 513, 2025",
        "paragraph_id": "para_4"
      },
      {
        "text": "§",
        "paragraph_id": "para_5"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ Court Below–Superior Court",
        "paragraph_id": "para_6"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ of the State of Delaware",
        "paragraph_id": "para_7"
      },
      {
        "text": "§",
        "paragraph_id": "para_8"
      },
      {
        "text": "§ C.A. No. N25C-10-202",
        "paragraph_id": "para_9"
      },
      {
        "text": "Submitted: December 30, 2025",
        "paragraph_id": "para_10"
      },
      {
        "text": "Decided: February 25, 2026",
        "paragraph_id": "para_11"
      },
      {
        "text": "Before VALIHURA, TRAYNOR, and LEGROW, Justices.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_12"
      },
      {
        "text": "ORDER",
        "paragraph_id": "para_13"
      },
      {
        "text": "After consideration of the notice and supplemental notice of appeal from an",
        "paragraph_id": "para_14"
      },
      {
        "text": "interlocutory order and the exhibits attached thereto, it appears to the Court that:",
        "paragraph_id": "para_15"
      },
      {
        "text": "(1) Over three hundred plaintiffs (“Plaintiffs”) have filed lawsuits in the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_16"
      },
      {
        "text": "Superior Court alleging that their use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate or its",
        "paragraph_id": "para_17"
      },
      {
        "text": "generic equivalents (together, “Depo-Provera”) caused them to develop intercranial",
        "paragraph_id": "para_18"
      },
      {
        "text": "meningiomas. In their complaints, Plaintiffs, represented by different law firms,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_19"
      },
      {
        "text": "allege that the defendants—Pfizer, Inc.; Pharmacia, LLC; and Pharmacia & Upjohn",
        "paragraph_id": "para_20"
      },
      {
        "text": "Company LLC (together, “Defendants”)—wrongfully developed, designed, tested,",
        "paragraph_id": "para_21"
      },
      {
        "text": "manufactured, labeled, packaged, promoted, advertised, marketed, distributed",
        "paragraph_id": "para_22"
      },
      {
        "text": "and/or sold Depo-Provera and therefore bear responsibility for their cancer",
        "paragraph_id": "para_23"
      },
      {
        "text": "diagnoses and related injuries (the “Depo-Provera Actions”). Similar lawsuits are",
        "paragraph_id": "para_24"
      },
      {
        "text": "pending in a multidistrict products liability action in the United States District Court",
        "paragraph_id": "para_25"
      },
      {
        "text": "2",
        "paragraph_id": "para_26"
      },
      {
        "text": "for the Northern District of Florida (the “MDL”) and other state courts. The parties",
        "paragraph_id": "para_27",
        "court_paragraph": 2
      },
      {
        "text": "expect that hundreds more Depo-Provera Actions will be filed in Delaware.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_28"
      },
      {
        "text": "(2) On November 18, 2025, the Superior Court entered a case management",
        "paragraph_id": "para_29"
      },
      {
        "text": "order intended to facilitate a threshold ruling on the issue of general causation and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_30"
      },
      {
        "text": "to coordinate the Superior Court’s general-causation proceedings with those in the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_31"
      },
      {
        "text": "MDL and other state actions. At the same time, the Superior Court entered two",
        "paragraph_id": "para_32"
      },
      {
        "text": "additional orders meant to be read together with the case management order. One",
        "paragraph_id": "para_33"
      },
      {
        "text": "order appointed BrownGreer PLC to serve as the data administrator vendor for the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_34"
      },
      {
        "text": "Depo-Provera Actions and directed the parties to use the online BrownGreer MDL",
        "paragraph_id": "para_35"
      },
      {
        "text": "Centrality System as a document repository and e-discovery platform (the “Data",
        "paragraph_id": "para_36"
      },
      {
        "text": "Administration Order”). The other order directed each plaintiff to provide initial",
        "paragraph_id": "para_37"
      },
      {
        "text": "documentary proof of her Depo-Provera use and meningioma diagnosis (the “Case",
        "paragraph_id": "para_38"
      },
      {
        "text": "Vetting Order,” and, together with the Data Administration Order, the “Orders”).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_39"
      },
      {
        "text": "All three orders are similar to those entered in the MDL and other state actions.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_40"
      },
      {
        "text": "(3) Plaintiffs represented by Collins Price Warner Woloshin, Rhoades &",
        "paragraph_id": "para_41"
      },
      {
        "text": "Morrow LLC, and Keller Postman LLC (“Keller Plaintiffs”) asked the Superior",
        "paragraph_id": "para_42"
      },
      {
        "text": "Court to certify an interlocutory appeal of the Orders under Supreme Court Rule 42.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_43"
      },
      {
        "text": "Keller Plaintiffs argued that the Orders decided substantial issues of material",
        "paragraph_id": "para_44"
      },
      {
        "text": "importance—a threshold inquiry under Rule 42—because (i) the court had no",
        "paragraph_id": "para_45"
      },
      {
        "text": "authority, under either its rules or its inherent authority, to enter the Orders, and (ii)",
        "paragraph_id": "para_46"
      },
      {
        "text": "3",
        "paragraph_id": "para_47"
      },
      {
        "text": "the Data Administration Order requires disclosure of confidential information to a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_48",
        "court_paragraph": 3
      },
      {
        "text": "third-party vendor in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and",
        "paragraph_id": "para_49"
      },
      {
        "text": "Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Keller Plaintiffs also maintained that four",
        "paragraph_id": "para_50"
      },
      {
        "text": "of the Rule 42(b)(iii) factors weighed in favor of certification: (i) the Orders resolved",
        "paragraph_id": "para_51"
      },
      {
        "text": "a question of law for the first time; (ii) the Orders conflict with other trial court",
        "paragraph_id": "para_52"
      },
      {
        "text": "decisions; (iii) the Orders relate to the construction of a statute that should be settled",
        "paragraph_id": "para_53"
      },
      {
        "text": "before the entry of a final judgment; and (iv) interlocutory review of the Orders",
        "paragraph_id": "para_54"
      },
      {
        "text": "would serve considerations of justice. The remaining plaintiffs and Defendants",
        "paragraph_id": "para_55"
      },
      {
        "text": "opposed the application.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_56"
      },
      {
        "text": "(4) The Superior Court declined to certify an interlocutory appeal. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_57"
      },
      {
        "text": "court determined that the Orders did not decide a substantial issue of material",
        "paragraph_id": "para_58"
      },
      {
        "text": "importance that merits appellate review before a final order because they do not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_59"
      },
      {
        "text": "relate to the merits of the case and do not establish any legal rights. Rather, the court",
        "paragraph_id": "para_60"
      },
      {
        "text": "found that the purpose of the Case Vetting Order is merely to confirm the existence",
        "paragraph_id": "para_61"
      },
      {
        "text": "of information that has been alleged in each complaint. The court observed that the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_62"
      },
      {
        "text": "Case Vetting Order does not, as Keller Plaintiffs claimed, potentially dispose of any",
        "paragraph_id": "para_63"
      },
      {
        "text": "of Plaintiffs’ claims—if a complaint is found to be lacking documentary proof, it",
        "paragraph_id": "para_64"
      },
      {
        "text": "will be dismissed without prejudice to re-file with the required documentation. The",
        "paragraph_id": "para_65"
      },
      {
        "text": "court also found it evident that it could use its inherent authority to manage a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_66"
      },
      {
        "text": "complex litigation docket by way of the Orders. Finally, the Superior Court found",
        "paragraph_id": "para_67"
      },
      {
        "text": "4",
        "paragraph_id": "para_68"
      },
      {
        "text": "that—assuming that Plaintiffs are “covered entities” under HIPAA and that HIPAA",
        "paragraph_id": "para_69",
        "court_paragraph": 4
      },
      {
        "text": "applies to a personal injury plaintiff who puts her physical condition at issue in a",
        "paragraph_id": "para_70"
      },
      {
        "text": "lawsuit—the Orders did not decide a substantial issue of material importance",
        "paragraph_id": "para_71"
      },
      {
        "text": "because the information that they require Plaintiffs to disclose is alleged in each",
        "paragraph_id": "para_72"
      },
      {
        "text": "plaintiff’s publicly filed complaint. And the Superior Court concluded that, even if",
        "paragraph_id": "para_73"
      },
      {
        "text": "Keller Plaintiffs had identified a substantial issue justifying the certification of an",
        "paragraph_id": "para_74"
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      {
        "text": "interlocutory appeal, none of the Rule 42(b)(iii) factors weighed in favor of",
        "paragraph_id": "para_75"
      },
      {
        "text": "certification.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_76"
      },
      {
        "text": "(5) We agree with the Superior Court that interlocutory review is not",
        "paragraph_id": "para_77"
      },
      {
        "text": "warranted in this case. Applications for interlocutory review are addressed to the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_78"
      },
      {
        "text": "sound discretion of the Court.1 In the exercise of our discretion and giving due",
        "paragraph_id": "para_79"
      },
      {
        "text": "weight to the Superior Court’s analysis, the Court has concluded that the application",
        "paragraph_id": "para_80"
      },
      {
        "text": "for interlocutory review does not meet the strict standards for certification under",
        "paragraph_id": "para_81"
      },
      {
        "text": "Rule 42(b). Exceptional circumstances that would merit interlocutory review of the",
        "paragraph_id": "para_82"
      },
      {
        "text": "Orders do not exist in this case,2 and the potential benefits of interlocutory review",
        "paragraph_id": "para_83"
      },
      {
        "text": "do not outweigh the inefficiency, disruption, and probable costs caused by an",
        "paragraph_id": "para_84"
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      {
        "text": "interlocutory appeal.3",
        "paragraph_id": "para_85"
      },
      {
        "text": "1 Del. Supr. Ct. R. 42(d)(v).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_86"
      },
      {
        "text": "2 Del. Supr. Ct. R. 42(b)(ii).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_87"
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      {
        "text": "3 Del. Supr. Ct. R. 42(b)(iii).",
        "paragraph_id": "para_88"
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        "text": "5",
        "paragraph_id": "para_89"
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        "text": "NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the interlocutory appeal be",
        "paragraph_id": "para_90",
        "court_paragraph": 5
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        "text": "REFUSED.",
        "paragraph_id": "para_91"
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        "text": "BY THE COURT:",
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        "text": "/s/ Gary F. Traynor",
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