Nearly a dozen documents outlining Bayer’s dealings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in litigation over discontinued birth control device Essure will no longer be confidential.

In a tentative ruling, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith partially lifted a blanket protective order covering most of the roughly 70 million pages of discovery documents in the case. If the order holds, 16 court documents and part of a deposition will be available to the public. Plaintiffs counsel allege that Essure’s previous parent company, Conceptus, intentionally hid records revealing the negative side effects of the product.