The Abbott baby formula lawsuits are product-liability cases brought by families of premature infants who developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed the company’s cow’s-milk-based Similac products, most often Similac Special Care. The families claim Abbott knew its formula raised the risk of NEC in preterm babies and failed to warn parents or doctors. As of mid-2026, roughly 797 cases sit in a federal multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Illinois, state juries have returned several large verdicts against Abbott — including $70 million in Cook County in April 2026 and $495 million in St. Louis in July 2024 — and no global settlement has been announced.1MDL Update. MDL 3026 Abbott Laboratories et al. Preterm Infant Nutrition
What the Lawsuits Claim
The core allegation is a failure-to-warn claim. Plaintiffs argue that Abbott (and Mead Johnson, which makes Enfamil) knew for years that cow’s-milk-based preterm formulas were associated with a higher risk of NEC in very-low-birth-weight infants and chose not to place any warning on the label or otherwise alert NICU clinicians and parents.
NEC is an intestinal disease in newborns where the lining of the intestine becomes inflamed and begins to die, sometimes perforating and allowing bacteria into the abdomen.2BMJ. Abbott Infant Formula NEC Verdict It is the leading cause of death from gastrointestinal disease in premature infants. The fatality rate approaches 25 percent overall and reaches roughly 50 percent when surgery is required.3Johns Hopkins Medicine. Necrotizing Enterocolitis About 85 percent of cases occur in infants born before 35 weeks, and NEC affects between 5 and 12 percent of very-low-birth-weight babies.4National Library of Medicine. Necrotizing Enterocolitis Pathogenesis
Plaintiffs rely on studies including a September 2024 Cochrane systematic review of 11 trials and 2,261 infants that found, with high certainty, that donor human milk reduced the risk of NEC by roughly half compared to formula.5Cochrane. Donor Human Milk for Preventing Necrotising Enterocolitis Proposed mechanisms include the absence of protective oligosaccharides in formula, removal of the milk fat globule membrane during processing, and the proinflammatory fatty acid profile of plant-based lipids used in formula.4National Library of Medicine. Necrotizing Enterocolitis Pathogenesis
The $70 Million Cook County Verdict
On April 9, 2026, after a month-long trial before Cook County Circuit Judge John Ehrlich, a jury found Abbott liable on claims of product defect, failure to warn, and negligence. It awarded $53 million in compensatory damages to four children and added $17 million in punitive damages after finding Abbott’s conduct “willful and wanton.”6Manufacturing Chemist. Abbott $70 Million Damages Verdict Preterm Infant Formula
The four plaintiffs were children born at Chicago-area hospitals between 2012 and 2019, all before 32 weeks of gestation. Their mothers — Antonia Mendez, Eboni Williams, Casie Thompson, and Kara Sharpe — brought the claims. Individual compensatory awards ranged from $7 million for the Thompson child to $16 million for the Sharpe child, with the Mendez and Williams children each receiving $15 million.7Expert Institute. Abbott NEC Punitive Verdict All four had been fed Similac Special Care and developed NEC. Three needed surgery. All continue to deal with gastrointestinal complications.6Manufacturing Chemist. Abbott $70 Million Damages Verdict Preterm Infant Formula
The plaintiffs’ team, a joint effort by Keller Postman and Olson Grimsley, had asked the jury for $530 million in punitive damages alone.8Chicago Tribune. Abbott Punitive Damages Infant Formula Abbott said it would appeal, arguing “science was ignored.”6Manufacturing Chemist. Abbott $70 Million Damages Verdict Preterm Infant Formula
Other Major Verdicts Against Abbott
The Cook County result was not a one-off. State court juries have handed Abbott several significant losses.
In July 2024, a St. Louis jury voted 9–3 against Abbott in a case brought by the family of Robynn Gill, awarding $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages for a total of $495 million.9IBFAN. Abbott Must Pay $495M in Infant Formula Trial for Hiding Risks On May 5, 2026, a Missouri appellate court upheld the full award, calling Abbott’s conduct “significantly reprehensible.” Abbott said it “strongly disagrees” and will seek further appellate review.10Chicago Tribune. Abbott Laboratories Infant Formula Appeal
A rare defense win did not hold. In November 2024, a Missouri jury sided with Abbott and Mead Johnson in Whitfield v. St. Louis Children’s Hospital, et al. Months later, in March 2025, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Noble vacated the verdict, finding that defense lawyers had “intentionally violated the court’s orders and rulings by improperly introducing the inadmissible evidence to the jury, time after time.” Judge Noble cited defense presentation of a joint FDA–NIH–CDC statement that had been ruled inadmissible, misleading arguments that infants would starve without formula, and bad-faith objections. Abbott’s lead attorney was sanctioned and barred from closing arguments. A retrial has been ordered, though no date has been set.11Law360. Judge Vacates Baby Formula Trial Win for Abbott, Mead
A separate $60 million verdict in March 2024 held Mead Johnson liable for the death of Jasmine Watson’s premature son, the first trial to hold a cow’s-milk-based formula manufacturer accountable for NEC.12Keller Postman. Necrotizing Enterocolitis Infant Formula Litigation
The Federal MDL
Most cases are not in state court. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the federal cases in April 2022 into MDL No. 3026 in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer. As of May 2026, roughly 797 lawsuits remain pending in the MDL, and no global settlement has been announced. In September 2025, the court ordered a full census of all claims, inside and outside the MDL, to organize the caseload and support what it described as “potential resolution efforts.”13Seeger Weiss. NEC Baby Formula
Federal results have diverged sharply from state ones. The first federal bellwether against Abbott settled mid-trial in July 2024 on undisclosed terms.1MDL Update. MDL 3026 Abbott Laboratories et al. Preterm Infant Nutrition Later bellwethers went badly for plaintiffs. By mid-2025, Abbott had secured dismissal of multiple federal bellwether cases after courts excluded plaintiffs’ causation experts under the Daubert standard and granted summary judgment. Three more federal bellwether trials against Abbott alone are scheduled for August 2026, November 2026, and February 2027.14TruLaw. Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit
The first federal bellwether against Mead Johnson is also close. In May 2026, Judge Pallmeyer denied Mead Johnson’s motion for summary judgment in Inman v. Mead Johnson, a case involving Daniel Inman, born at 29 weeks in 2020, who developed NEC after receiving Enfamil Premature Formula and died that June. Trial is set for August 2026.15Courthouse News Service. Formula May Have Been Cause of Infant Death
A separate question is pending at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which on May 22, 2026 heard arguments on whether to revive a dismissed federal bellwether. The panel pressed both sides on whether plaintiffs must identify a specific alternative warning and whether parents or doctors would have changed feeding decisions had a warning been given. No ruling had issued as of mid-2026.16TorHoerman Law. Toxic Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit
Abbott’s Defense
Abbott’s position across every case has been consistent. The company maintains that NEC is multifactorial, driven primarily by prematurity and low birth weight rather than formula composition, and that some infants develop NEC even on an exclusively human-milk diet. It argues that breast milk is protective rather than that formula is causative, and that its products are safe when used as directed.8Chicago Tribune. Abbott Punitive Damages Infant Formula
In federal court, Abbott has added a regulatory argument: because the FDA has not required a NEC warning on formula labels, federal preemption should bar state-law failure-to-warn claims. The company also points to the independent role of NICU clinicians in choosing feeding regimens. Those arguments have carried more weight with federal judges than with state juries.14TruLaw. Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit In October 2024, the FDA released a joint consensus statement with the CDC and NIH saying “there is no conclusive evidence that preterm infant formula causes NEC” while acknowledging “strong evidence that human milk is protective against NEC.”17U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. DeLauro. Letter to FDA on NEC and Human Donor Milk
What’s Ahead
Several things will move the litigation over the next year. Abbott’s appeal of the $70 million Cook County verdict is coming. Its further appellate challenge to the affirmed $495 million Missouri award is coming. The Whitfield retrial has been ordered but not scheduled. The Seventh Circuit’s ruling on the dismissed federal bellwether could reshape the expert-testimony fights that have so far favored Abbott in federal court. And four federal bellwether trials — one against Mead Johnson in August 2026 and three against Abbott through February 2027 — will test how MDL juries respond to the same evidence state juries have repeatedly credited.16TorHoerman Law. Toxic Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit
New cases continue to be filed in Illinois, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania, and other states.12Keller Postman. Necrotizing Enterocolitis Infant Formula Litigation Abbott continues to deny liability.