NEC Injury Lawyers Reappointed to Leadership Roles in Baby Formula MDL as Bellwether Trials Loom

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) infant formula injury lawsuits has reappointed a number of plaintiffs’ attorneys to continue serving in leadership positions, two years after the litigation was first consolidated for coordinated pretrial proceedings, and just a couple months before the the first scheduled bellwether trial is set to begin.

The attorneys have been tasked with taking certain actions during the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), which benefits all plaintiffs involved in about 600 Similac lawsuits and Enfamil lawsuits currently pending in the federal court system.

Each of the baby formula lawsuits present similar allegations, claiming that Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson withheld critical information from families and the medical community regarding the risk of premature infants developing NEC when fed the 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.

The lawsuits maintain that there is overwhelming evidence that cow’s milk formula dramatically raises NEC risks for premature newborns, claiming that hundreds of children could have avoided severe and often fatal injuries if accurate information had been provided by the baby formula manufacturers.

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.

Shortly after, the Court appointed a group of 32 attorneys to serve in various leadership positions during coordinated pretrial proceedings. Now, with parties preparing for a series of early bellwether trials slated to begin in a few months, Judge Pallmeyer has reappointed those attorneys to continue in their leadership roles, according to a case management order (PDF) issued on January 13.

These lawyers will continue taking certain actions during the pretrial proceedings that benefit all plaintiffs presenting claims, including arguing motions, taking depositions of common witnesses, reviewing discovery documents and other actions.

Baby Formula NEC Bellwether Trials

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 and a half.

In October, Judge Pallmeyer issued a docket entry (PDF) scheduling the first baby formula NEC bellwether trial to go before a jury on May 5, 2025, involving claims brought by plaintiff Ericka Mar, over the death of her child RaiLee Mar. That will be followed by additional trials expected to begin on August 11, 2025, November 3, 2025, and February 2, 2026.

While the outcome of these early trials will not have any binding impact on NEC injury lawsuits being pursued by other families, the average payouts awarded by juries will likely have a substantial impact on the amount that Abbott and Mead Johnson may be required to pay in NEC injury 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.