The NEC baby formula lawsuit is not close to resolution. As of mid-2026, roughly 780 cases sit in a federal multidistrict litigation in Chicago where the defense has won every bellwether decided so far, while state court juries have handed plaintiffs verdicts of $60 million, $495 million, and $70 million against Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson. No global settlement has been announced, and Abbott’s CEO has publicly rejected the idea. Here is where things actually stand for families weighing a claim against the makers of Similac and Enfamil.
The Federal MDL Has Been Rough on Plaintiffs
The federal cases were consolidated in April 2022 before Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois as MDL No. 3026.1JPML. MDL 3026 Initial Transfer Order The docket has grown from roughly 632 cases in January 2025 to between 769 and 780 in early 2026.2Motley Rice. NEC Baby Formula Lawsuit
None of those cases has yet reached a federal jury. Judge Pallmeyer granted summary judgment for the defense in at least three consecutive bellwether cases through October 2025, generally finding that the plaintiffs’ expert testimony did not sufficiently link the formula to the specific child’s injury.3Lawsuit Legal News. NEC Baby Formula Lawsuits In the second bellwether, the court excluded the plaintiff’s causation expert because the testimony did not adequately fit the child’s gestational profile.4Miller & Zois. Formula NEC Lawsuit
The picture in the MDL is not uniformly bleak for plaintiffs. In May 2025, Judge Pallmeyer denied defense motions to exclude two key plaintiff experts on general causation, preserving the core theory that cow’s milk-based formulas increase NEC risk.4Miller & Zois. Formula NEC Lawsuit In August 2025, she partially blocked a defense expert, Dr. Larry Hedges, after finding he relied on flawed data.5U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. MDL 3026 Details Still, the pattern of federal dismissals has pushed many plaintiffs’ lawyers toward state court filings.
What to Watch Next: Inman v. Mead Johnson
The next federal bellwether, Inman v. Mead Johnson, is the first involving Enfamil rather than Similac. Alexis Inman alleges her premature son Daniel was switched from breast milk to Enfamil Premature formula and developed NEC before dying in June 2020. Unlike the earlier bellwethers, the court denied Mead Johnson’s motion for summary judgment, finding genuine factual disputes about whether a warning would have changed treatment and whether hospital staff were influenced by the company’s marketing.6Courthouse News Service. Formula May Have Been Cause of Infant Death Additional bellwethers involving Abbott are tentatively scheduled for late 2026 and early 2027.7TruLaw. Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit
If Inman reaches a jury and plaintiffs win, the settlement conversation changes overnight. If Mead Johnson prevails, the split between federal and state outcomes hardens.
State Court Verdicts Tell a Very Different Story
Four state-court results define the current landscape.
Watson v. Mead Johnson — $60 Million (March 2024)
The first NEC formula case to reach a jury was tried in St. Clair County, Illinois. Jasmine Watson alleged Mead Johnson failed to warn about NEC risks of its cow’s milk-based preterm formula, which she said caused the death of her baby, Chance Dean. The jury awarded $60 million.8Law.com. Mead Johnson Hit With $60M Verdict in First NEC Trial Over Preterm Infant Formula Mead Johnson said it was “surprised and deeply disappointed” and appealed.
Gill v. Abbott — $495 Million, Affirmed on Appeal (July 2024; Affirmed May 2026)
A St. Louis jury awarded Margo Gill $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages on behalf of her daughter Robynn Davis, who was born at 26 weeks gestation in 2021 and developed NEC after being fed Similac Special Care.9News Tribune. Court Upholds $495 Million Verdict Against Abbott
On May 5, 2026, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District affirmed the verdict in full. The appellate court called Abbott’s conduct “significantly reprehensible,” citing evidence that the company knew its preterm formula posed a disproportionate NEC risk to very low birth weight infants but “failed to take steps to remediate the risk.”10Medical Malpractice Lawyers. Missouri Appellate Court Affirms $495M NEC Verdict Against Abbott The court also rejected Abbott’s “learned intermediary” defense, ruling that preterm infant formula is classified as food, not a prescription drug or medical device.11Slepkow Law. Baby Formula Lawsuit NEC Similac Enfamil Abbott says it will seek further appellate review.9News Tribune. Court Upholds $495 Million Verdict Against Abbott
The affirmance matters beyond the dollars. A state appellate court has now endorsed the punitive theory and blocked one of the manufacturers’ most important defenses.
Whitfield — Defense Verdict Thrown Out (October 2024; New Trial March 2025)
A Missouri jury initially ruled for both Abbott and Mead Johnson in Whitfield v. Mead Johnson. That did not hold. In March 2025, Judge Michael Noble vacated the verdict and granted a new trial, finding that defense lawyers engaged in “pervasive prejudicial conduct” and “intentionally violated the court’s orders and rulings by improperly introducing inadmissible evidence to the jury, time after time.”12Law360. Judge Vacates Baby Formula Trial Win for Abbott, Mead Abbott and Mead Johnson are appealing.
Cook County Consolidated Trial — $70 Million (April 2026)
Most recently, a Chicago jury awarded a combined $70 million to four families alleging Abbott’s Similac Special Care caused NEC in their premature infants. Compensatory damages totaled $53 million: Antonia Mendez ($15 million), Eboni Williams ($15 million), Casie Thompson ($7 million), and Kara Sharpe ($16 million), with $17 million more in punitive damages.13Expert Institute. Abbott NEC Punitive Verdict Abbott said it “strongly disagrees” with the verdict and plans to appeal.11Slepkow Law. Baby Formula Lawsuit NEC Similac Enfamil
Why the Manufacturers Aren’t Settling
Abbott and Mead Johnson (owned by Reckitt Benckiser) have held the same line throughout: NEC is a disease of prematurity, their formulas are FDA-approved and medically necessary, and the science does not prove causation in any individual infant. In court, that translates into aggressive Daubert challenges to plaintiffs’ experts.3Lawsuit Legal News. NEC Baby Formula Lawsuits
That approach has worked in the federal MDL under stricter expert-gatekeeping. It has failed in state courts. Abbott has also argued that hospital physicians, not manufacturers, make feeding decisions, and that its duty to warn ran only to doctors. The Missouri appellate court rejected that argument in Gill, and other state courts may follow.10Medical Malpractice Lawyers. Missouri Appellate Court Affirms $495M NEC Verdict Against Abbott
Abbott CEO Robert Ford said in 2025 that the company has “full confidence in its products” and rejected any suggestion of settlement, going so far as to say Abbott would consider exiting the preterm formula market rather than let courtroom outcomes dictate public health standards.14STAT News. NEC Lawsuits Threaten Preterm Infant Care; Formula Maker Abbott May Exit Market Plaintiffs’ lawyers have characterized that statement as a pressure tactic aimed at regulators and lawmakers.11Slepkow Law. Baby Formula Lawsuit NEC Similac Enfamil
Is a Settlement Coming, and What Might Cases Be Worth?
There is no global settlement and no public sign that formal negotiations have started.15Drugwatch. Baby Formula NEC Settlement Bloomberg Intelligence analysts have estimated combined liability exposure for Abbott and Mead Johnson at roughly $3 billion across pending and anticipated cases, though the underlying methodology has not been detailed publicly.
Speculative payout ranges reported by one industry analysis, based on injury severity, run from $50,000 to $600,000 for non-fatal NEC cases, $1 million to $10 million for cases involving permanent disability, and potentially over $50 million for wrongful death claims.15Drugwatch. Baby Formula NEC Settlement Those numbers are not offers. What they will actually look like depends heavily on the federal bellwethers. A plaintiff win in Inman puts real pressure on the defense to negotiate; a defense win widens the state-federal gap and makes unified resolution harder.
One boundary worth naming: the $32 million December 2025 Connecticut verdict against Yale New Haven Hospital involved an informed-consent claim against a hospital, not a product-liability claim against a formula maker, and it is not part of the manufacturer litigation tracked above.16WTNH. Court Awards Nearly $32M in Damages to Parents of Baby Who Died at Yale New Haven Hospital
Where Federal Regulators Stand
The FDA has not required warning labels on cow’s milk-based preterm formulas or taken enforcement action tied to NEC. A joint statement in October 2024 from the FDA, CDC, and NIH said there is “no conclusive evidence that preterm infant formula causes NEC” but acknowledged “strong evidence that human milk is protective against NEC,” and described preterm formulas as “critically important” and “part of the standard of care” when human milk is unavailable.17Contemporary Pediatrics. Mother’s Milk Preferred for Premature Infants; Infant Formulas Critically Important A working group convened by the National Advisory Council of Child Health and Human Development concluded that the absence of human milk, rather than exposure to formula itself, drives the increased risk.18Nature. The 50 Million Dollar Question
That regulatory posture anchors the manufacturers’ defense. In November 2024, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro wrote to the FDA urging further action to inform parents and providers about NEC risks, arguing the agency has lagged behind what juries have concluded from trial evidence.19Rep. DeLauro. Letter to FDA on NEC and Human Donor Milk The gap between the federal regulatory position and state-court verdicts is now the defining tension in this litigation, and it is unlikely to close before the next round of bellwether trials.