Lawyers Propose MDL Trial Dates for Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit Starting in May 2025

To help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout hundreds of baby formula NEC lawsuits pending in the federal court system, lawyers involved in the litigation have agreed that a series of four bellwether trials will be ready to begin between May 5, 2025 and February 2, 2026.

There are currently about 600 Similac lawsuits and Enfamil lawsuits pending in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), each presenting similar allegations that Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson withheld critical information from families and the medical community about the risk of premature infants developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) when fed the two cow’s milk-based formulas.

NEC is a devastating gastrointestinal disease, which occurs when harmful bacteria breaches the walls of the intestines, causing portions of the tissue to become inflamed or die. In many cases, children who contract the condition require emergency surgery while still in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after birth, and many babies do not survive NEC.

Although versions of Similac and Enfamil baby formula products have been specifically marketed for use among premies over the past few decades, there is now increasing evidence that cow’s milk formula dramatically raises NEC risks for these vulnerable newborns. Families now allege that their children could have avoided severe and often fatal injuries if accurate information had been provided about the increased baby formula risks compared to the use of human breast milk.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in the claims, a baby formula NEC lawsuit MDL was established in 2022, centralizing lawsuits brought throughout the federal court system before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois, for coordinated discovery and a series of early trial dates.

In addition to claims in the MDL, there are also hundreds of additional cases pending in various state courts, which have already resulted in at least two massive damage awards against the manufacturers so far this year. However, the first federal trial has yet to begin.

Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit Bellwether Trial Dates

As part of the coordinated management of the federal litigation, Judge Pallmeyer previously established a “bellwether” program, where a small group of representative claims are being prepared for a series of early trial dates to help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the cases, and promote global NEC settlement negotiations.

The parties selected four baby formula NEC lawsuit bellwether candidates in October 2023, and have been engaged in case-specific discovery and depositions over the past year.

Late last month, Judge Pallmeyer set the order in which the four NEC bellwether cases will go to trial, and directed the parties to meet and file proposed dates for each of the cases to go before juries.

On October 4, the parties submitted a stipulation regarding proposed trial dates (PDF)  indicating that a lawsuit filed by plaintiff Erica Mar will be ready to go before a jury on May 5, 2025. The second bellwether trial, involving claims by Keosha Diggs, is slated for trial starting on August 11, 2025, followed by a trial starting on November 3, 2025, and a fourth bellwether trial to be held on February 2, 2026.

While the outcomes of these MDL bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on other baby formula NEC lawsuits, the cases will be closely watched to determine whether federal juries will respond with similar verdicts to those awarded in various state courts.

In March 2024, an Illinois jury ordered Mead Johnson to pay $60 million in damages in an Enfamil lawsuit brought by Jasmine Watson. Following over four weeks of testimony, it took the jury only four hours to reach a verdict, awarding $25 million more in damages than Watson’s attorneys had asked for.

In July 2024, a separate jury in St. Louis ordered Abbott Laboratories to pay $495 million in a Similac lawsuit, including a massive punitive damages award intended to punish the manufacturer for disregarding the health and safety of premature infants and families.

Another state trial is currently underway in Missouri state court regarding claims by Elizabeth Whitfield, who says her child suffered NEC after being fed both brands of baby formula shortly after birth.

The average baby formula NEC lawsuit payouts in the federal MDL will likely have a substantial impact on the amount that Abbott and Mead Johnson may be required to pay in NEC settlements to avoid hundreds of additional claims going before juries.

If the parties fail to resolve the litigation following the federal bellwether trials, Judge Pallmeyer may start remanding dozens of individual claims back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for separate trial dates.