NEC Infant Formula Lawyers To Meet With MDL Judge Following Dismissal of First Bellwether Trial

The next NEC infant formula lawsuit is expected to go before a jury in August 2025, to help gauge how juries may respond to evidence that will be repeated in hundreds of similar claims.

Lawyers involved in the federal lawsuit over the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) from premature infant formula products will meet with the U.S. District Judge presiding over the litigation next month, to discuss next steps after the first bellwether test case was dismissed.

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

In recent years, a growing number of NEC infant formula lawsuits have been filed by families throughout the U.S., following mounting evidence that cow’s milk-based products often prescribed for premature babies may dramatically raise the risk of babies developing the devastating condition.

Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson currently face more than 700 Similac lawsuits and Enfamil lawsuits, respectively, each raising similar allegations that the manufacturers actively concealed information about the NEC risks from families and the medical community for decades.

Since each of the claims raise similar questions of fact and law, the litigation has been consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois as part of an infant formula NEC lawsuit MDL (multidistrict litigation) since 2022, with U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer presiding over coordinated pretrial discovery and preparing a small group of “bellwether” cases for early trial dates.

Days before the first bellwether trial was set to begin last month, Judge Pallmeyer issued a court order dismissing an infant formula NEC lawsuit brought by Erica Mar, over the death of her child RaiLee Mar, which was selected to serve as the first in a series of test claims to present to juries. 

The case was dismissed after the judge determined that Mar had insufficient evidence to maintain her claim, but those facts were specific to that case and are not expected to impact the rest of the litigation.

On May 21, Judge Pallmeyer issued a docket entry (PDF) announcing that she will hold an in-person status conference with NEC infant formula lawyers involved in the litigation on June 11. Non-participants will be allowed to call in and listen to the hearing.

Despite the first bellwether’s dismissal, a second case is currently slated to begin on August 11, 2025, with additional trial dates scheduled for 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.