With bellwether trials just a few months away, 2025 is set to be a key year for the hundreds of ongoing baby formula lawsuits.
Plaintiffs have claimed that popular formula manufacturers failed to warn of the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in some infants. They’ve seen a pair of huge trial wins in 2024 that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
But the defendant’s surprising trial victory in October has cast some doubt on how the litigation may play out. This win suggests the path to a major settlement for plaintiffs is not guaranteed.
The coming months will be critical to determining the eventual resolution of these lawsuits as the first bellwether trials near.
Promising Year for Baby Formula Plaintiffs Ends with Unexpected Loss
Late into 2024, plaintiffs appeared to have a firm upper hand in the baby formula litigation after securing big wins in two state trials.
In March, a jury in Illinois awarded $60 million to the mother of a baby who died from NEC after being fed one of Mead Johnson’s Enfamil formulas.
In July, a few months later, the family of a baby that developed NEC and suffered irreversible neurological damage after being fed Abbott’s Similac was awarded a staggering $495 million by a Missouri jury.
With major verdicts secured against both manufacturers of the formulas in question, there appeared to be a clear roadmap for plaintiffs to continue seeing success. This suggests that a settlement could eventually be agreed upon.
But an October trial that named both Mead Johnson and Abbott as defendants ended with a starkly different result. The Missouri jury sided with the defendants for the first time, determining that neither company was liable for the development of NEC in a baby that was left with lifelong health issues.
“This outcome illustrates that moving forward, plaintiffs face significant challenges due to the heavy burden they must meet in proving elements of their claims in every single case,” Mead Johnson said in a statement following the verdict.
Baby Formula Bellwether Trials Set to Play Major Role
The next step in the baby formula litigation is a big one: the start of bellwether trials as part of federal multidistrict litigation (MDL).
Due to their similarities, hundreds of the pending baby formula cases have been grouped together in an Illinois-based MDL under one judge. The upcoming bellwether trials will serve as test cases. These cases will help both sides understand what outcomes would be likely if more cases went to trial.
The first of the bellwether trials is set to start on May 5. Two more after that scheduled for August and November. The first case will be Ericka Mar, as Administratrix of the Estate of RaiLee Mar v. Abbott Laboratories.
According to court documents, Ericka’s baby RaiLee was born prematurely on Jan. 1, 2014, and was quickly sent to the NICU. There, she was fed her mother’s breast milk for nearly two weeks.
RaiLee was then fed a Similac formula for the first time on Jan. 14. By the next day, she had developed a distended abdomen and bloody stool and was started on triple antibiotics. Parts of her intestines then had to be removed due to necrosis later that day.
She died from NEC the next day in the afternoon.
“At the time of her death, Baby RaiLee’s parents were unaware of the fact that the Defendant’s Cow’s Milk-Based Product she was fed caused or substantially contributed to her development of NEC and ultimately to her death,” the lawsuit stated.
The next two bellwether trials also name Abbott as the defendant, with the first bellwether against Mead Johnson scheduled for February 2026.
As of this month, over 600 baby formula lawsuits are pending in multidistrict litigation.
Editor Lindsay Donaldson contributed to this article.