Jury Awards $495M NEC Similac Lawsuit Payout Over Infant Formula Risks for Preemies

A St. Louis jury has ordered Abbott Laboratories to pay nearly half a billion dollars in damages to the family of a premature infant diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) from Similac, finding that the company failed to warn parents and the medical community about the potentially deadly side effects linked to it’s infant formula products.

The payout was awarded in a lawsuit brought by Margo Gill, of Illinois, whose infant daughter suffered brain damage after surviving NEC, which her mother claimed was a direct result of exposure to Similac.

Although versions of Similac have been specifically promoted in recent years for use among premature infants, there is increasing evidence that the cow’s milk formula dramatically raises the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which occurs when harmful bacteria breaches the walls of the intestines, causing portions of the tissue to become inflamed or die. The condition often results in the need for emergency surgery while the baby is still in the NICU, and many infants do not survive.

A St. Louis jury began hearing evidence earlier this month in Missouri state court in the case brought by Gill, which is just one of several hundred of NEC Similac lawsuits being pursued against Abbott Laboratories, with similar allegations also being presented in Enfamil lawsuits filed against Mead Johnson over it’s competing products.

The trial was being closely watched as a “bellwether” to gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that may be presented throughout the litigation, and help determine the average lawsuit payouts families may be awarded after learning about the false and misleading information provided by the manufacturers for years regarding the NEC risks associated with their products.

Similac NEC Lawsuit Jury Award

In her NEC Similac lawsuit, Gill indicated that her daughter was born prematurely in August 2021, and received the cow’s milk-based infant formula while she was still in the hospital. She developed NEC shortly after, resulting in the need for extensive surgeries, which left the child long-term health consequences that will impact the remainder of her life.

The case was the second baby formula lawsuit to go to trial this year, with another Illinois jury awarding a $60 million NEC Enfamil lawsuit payout in March, after finding that Mead Johnson and its parent company, Reckitt Benckiser also failed to warn families and the medical community about the risks associated with cow’s milk formula for preemies. However, this was the first time a NEC lawsuit over Similac to go to trial, with the jury awarding a $495 million payout, which is certain to send shock waves through the litigation.

The St. Louis jury ordered Abbott to pay Gill’s family $95 million in compensatory damages, with another $400 million in punitive damages added to the payout to punish Abbott for disregarding the health and safety of premature infants and families.

Abbott officials have already announced they plan to appeal the verdict.

August 2024 NEC Similac Lawsuit Update

While this trial was held at the state court level, there are hundreds of other Similac and Enfamil lawsuits being pursued by U.S. families in the federal court system, where a baby formula MDL (multidistrict litigation) was established in 2022, centralizing the claims before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

As part of the management of the litigation, Judge Pallmeyer has established a “bellwether” program, where a group of 12 NEC lawsuits brought against the two infant formula manufacturers are going through case-specific discovery, and the first federal NEC baby formula lawsuit bellwether trial is expected to begin on May 5, 2025.

Although the outcomes of these early trials will not have any binding impact on other claims that continue to be filed, the average payouts awarded by juries are likely to have a large influence on the amounts of any NEC settlements the manufacturers of Similac and Enfamil may be forced to pay to avoid hundreds of individual cases going before juries over the next few years.