$60 Million Jury Award in NEC Lawsuit Against Enfamil Manufacturers

Watson’s son was born prematurely at 31 weeks and developed NEC shortly after being fed Enfamil. The child later died from the injuries, and Watson argued at trial that her loss could have been avoided if Mead Johnson had warned her or her doctors about the increased risks of NEC linked to the infant formula products.

During the trial, Watson’s attorneys pointed to numerous studies and experts who have warned for decades that cow’s milk-based infant formula products, like Enfamil and Abbott’s Similac, have been linked to an increased risk of NEC.

Not only did the jury quickly find in Watson’s favor, but the $60 million reward was $25 million higher than Watson originally sought. Mead Johnson indicated it is considering whether to appeal the decision.

March 2024 Infant Formula NEC Lawsuits Update

While this trial was held at the state level, most Similac NEC lawsuits and Enfamil NEC lawsuits are currently pending in the federal court system, where claims brought nationwide have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois, as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

According to a docket report issued on March 1, there are currently more than 400 complaints centralized before Judge Pallmeyer, each involving similar claims against the manufacturers, indicating that premature babies developed the devastating intestinal disease shortly after being fed the cow’s milk-based infant formula while still in the NICU, often resulting in fatal injuries or the need for emergency surgery to remove large sections of the intestines.

Families allege that the makers of Similac and Enfamil knew about the baby formula NEC risks for premature infants, yet continued to market and promote their products to hospitals, doctors and parents, without warning about the problems.

Last year Judge Pallmeyer had the parties select four infant formula NEC lawsuits for an initial bellwether trial pool, to serve as early test cases to see how juries will respond to common evidence and arguments likely to be repeated in hundreds of similar claims.

While the date the first NEC bellwether trial in the federal court system not yet been scheduled, Judge Pallmeyer has previously indicated the cases will be spaced about 12 weeks apart, and prior scheduling orders suggested the claims would be ready to go before juries by the end of 2024.

As the bellwether trial process continues, baby formula lawyers are continuing to review and file new claims for families nationwide, and the size of the litigation is expected to continue to grow throughout 2024. Following the four early trial dates, if the parties fail to negotiate NEC lawsuit settlements for families, it is then likely that Judge Pallmeyer will start remanding dozens of individual claims back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for separate trial dates.