Published July 24, 2026
A Texas judge rejected Kenvue's attempt to throw out a consumer-protection lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Tylenol's marketing, in a one-sentence order issued February 26, 2026. Judge LeAnn Rafferty of Panola County, Texas did not detail her reasoning in the ruling, but the effect is that Paxton's case moves forward rather than ending at the motion-to-dismiss stage.
Paxton originally sued Kenvue on October 28, 2025, alleging the company violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by not disclosing a possible link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism or ADHD in children. It's worth being precise about what this case is: a state consumer-protection claim brought by the Attorney General's office, not a personal-injury lawsuit filed by an individual family, and legally separate from the federal multidistrict litigation where individual plaintiffs allege their own children were harmed.
Kenvue argued that federal law should preempt Texas's claim, since the FDA — not individual states — regulates how over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol are labeled. The company's position is that allowing each state to impose its own warning requirements would create inconsistent, conflicting standards nationwide. The judge's rejection of that argument, at least at this preliminary stage, means the preemption question hasn't ended the case, though it could still be litigated further as the lawsuit proceeds.
This ruling arrived the same week the Second Circuit revived the federal personal-injury MDL by reinstating key expert testimony — meaning both of Tylenol's major legal fronts, the individual-injury cases and now a state enforcement action, are moving forward again roughly in parallel after both had appeared stalled.
Paxton's lawsuit doesn't create a path for individual compensation — any recovery from a state enforcement action would go to the state, not to affected families. If you believe your child's autism or ADHD diagnosis is connected to prenatal Tylenol use, your path to compensation remains the federal or state personal-injury litigation. See Atumio's Tylenol autism lawsuit page for a free eligibility review, or start your case review directly.