The Push to Consolidate Roblox Exploitation Cases
Roblox has become one of the most played online games in the world, and it holds itself out as a safe space for children to learn and connect with each other. But thousands of families have realized their children are being exposed to predators, posing as children, due to Roblox’s lack of adequate safety features and that Roblox knew about this problem for years.
Over the past year, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts against Roblox Corporation. The allegations are chilling as they thoroughly describe how the company’s platform allowed and enabled child sexual exploitation, grooming, and sextortion. Behind the legal filings are real families whose children were targeted by predators who used the platform’s chat features, private messages, and even its in-game currency to make contact and exert control.
Now, those families and their lawyers are asking for something more impactful than dozens of individual cases moving forward on their own. They’ve petitioned the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to consolidate the lawsuits into one coordinated proceeding in the Northern District of California.
Why This Matters
If the JPML agrees, these 42 lawsuits (and any new federal filings that follow) would be combined into what’s known as a Multidistrict Litigation, or MDL. This will consolidate the cases in front of one judge for pre-trial rulings, and often the trials themselves. Instead of every case repeating the same discovery battles or producing inconsistent rulings, an MDL streamlines the process, ensures consistency, and lets both sides focus resources on the issues that matter most.
At Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa, we know the importance of this type of efficiency. In complex litigation, whether against large corporations, pharmaceutical companies, or tech platforms, consolidation can be the difference between isolated voices and a unified effort powerful enough to drive meaningful change.
What’s at Stake
The upcoming JPML hearing, likely in December 2025 in Austin, Texas, will decide whether these cases stay fragmented or move forward in a consolidated litigation. At the heart of the debate is whether the lawsuits share similar factual allegations, legal claims, and harms such that they warrant consolidation.
Plaintiffs will argue the overlap is undeniable: predators used Roblox’s communication channels and design features to reach children. The Defense, on the other hand, will highlight factual differences in each case in order to argue they are not similar enough to be consolidated. Roblox may also point to the safety tools it alleges are already in place and argue that parents and users had responsibilities, too.
Our team at RDCY is especially attuned to what’s really at stake in this litigation, which is children’s safety in a digital age where tech companies profit from engagement, but too often lack critical protections.
Beyond Legal Technicalities
Each and every one of these lawsuits tells the story of a child whose innocence was stolen as a result of using a platform designed to appear safe. Whether through grooming, coercion, or sextortion, predators were able to take advantage of inadequacies in Roblox’s systems.
Consolidation could impact more than just the efficiency of the litigation. It will, hopefully, put pressure on Roblox to implement additional safety features, such as stronger age verification, tighter content moderation, and clearer parental controls. And whatever the outcome here, other platforms are surely watching. A ruling against Roblox could set a precedent for how courts handle cases where digital design choices intersect with child safety.
The Bigger Picture
For families affected, this proposed MDL is about far more than legal strategy; it’s about justice for their children and preventing this in the future. It’s about ensuring that companies that create platforms used by millions of children take responsibility for the risks they introduce.
The December hearing is a crucial point in the litigation. If the JPML approves consolidation, it will mark the start of a coordinated legal fight that could reshape how courts, companies, and families think about online child safety. If not, the lawsuits will move forward separately – still powerful, but lacking the collective weight an MDL can bring.
Either way, the message these lawsuits are signaling is clear: companies that enable sexual predators to target children will be held accountable.
Standing Up for Families
At Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa, we are following this litigation closely. Our work has always centered on holding powerful interests accountable when people, especially children, are harmed by systemic failures. The Roblox MDL could be a turning point in how the law protects children online, and we remain committed to advocating for families whose voices need to be heard.
