Reckitt Benckiser (LON: RKT) subsidiary, Mead Johnson is facing the first bellwether today as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois over its infant formula Enfamil being linked to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in a premature infant.

Inman v. Mead Johnson & Company, LLC, et al. is the first case against Mead Johnson in the MDL to proceed to trial. NEC is a severe intestinal disease that can cause tissue death and life-threatening infections in premature babies. Andy Childers, Levin Papantonio attorney is Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the MDL.

The trial concerns Daniel Windley, the infant son of Alexis Inman, who was born prematurely at 29 weeks. While in a hospital setting, Daniel was fed cow’s milk-based formula Enfamil, manufactured by Mead Johnson. Following this, Daniel was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), he then underwent surgery on 22 June 2020 and died the following day on 23 June 2020. Alexis Inman, the plaintiff alleges Mead Johnson failed to warn her or her son’s doctors that Enfamil premature formula could cause necrotizing enterocolitis.

The litigation centres on allegations that Mead Johnson’s Enfamil and Abbott Laboratories’ (NYSE: ABT) Similac, which are cow’s-milk-based infant formulas, increase the risk of NEC in premature infants and that manufacturers failed to adequately warn doctors and parents about this risk.

  • More than 825 lawsuits are currently consolidated in the federal MDL in the Northern District of Illinois and hundreds of cases have been filed in state court

  • Analysts have estimated the total potential liability from infant formula litigation could range from around £400 million to as much as £8 billion.

  • A $495 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories was upheld by a Missouri appellate court, revealing that the scale of the damages awarded in NEC cases are appropriate.

  • In March, a jury in the state court litigation in Chicago awarded $70 million in damages to four mothers of preterm babies who developed NEC against Abbott Laboratories, highlighting the potential financial liability facing formula manufacturers.

  • Reckitt Benckiser and Abbott Laboratories have a market share of about 80% of the US infant formula market.

Sara Papantonio, Attorney at Levin Papantonio, said: “This bellwether trial is a pivotal moment that brings the devastated families and premature babies affected by NEC a step closer to justice. Reckitt Benckiser’s Mead Johnson has been aware for decades of the risks that cow’s-milk-based formulas pose to premature babies, and this trial will hold their actions to account in front of a jury.”

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About Levin Papantonio

Levin Papantonio is one of the leading plaintiff law firms in America. The firm has successfully represented more than 100,000 clients harmed by corporate negligence and misconduct and has helped to secure more than $80 billion in jury verdicts and settlements against some of the world’s largest corporations, including Big Tobacco, BP, Dupont, 3M and Merck:

  • Over $14 billion in settlements in the PFAS litigation from 3M, DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva over the last 20 years. These settlements aimed to fund the cleanup of toxic “forever chemicals” from public water systems nationwide, addressing environmental and health concerns linked to PFAS contamination.

  • $26 billion national opioid settlement involving Johnson & Johnson and three other major drug distributors in 2021.

  • $18.7 billion settlement in the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill case in 2010.

  • $4.85 billion settlement in the Vioxx products multi-district litigation against Merck in 2007.

  • $3.75 billion settlement with American Home Products Corporation for those claiming injuries from the diet pill combo Fen-Phen in 1999.

  • $13.2 billion settlement for the State of Florida against the tobacco industry in 1992, the largest civil settlement in US history at the time.

The firm is led by Mike Papantonio, a nationally renowned US trial lawyer. Mike was selected as lead in discovery and trial in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation MDL, dubbed the most complex case in U.S. legal history, and he secured a $26 billion settlement.

One of the few living attorneys inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, Papantonio’s work has been featured in award-winning documentaries including Oxy Kingpins, The Devil We Know, and Jesus Camp. Papantonio also hosts America’s Lawyer on YouTube, with over 1 million subscribers, and he founded and hosts the Ring of Fire radio show where he has interviewed major cultural and political figures, including Al Pacino, Erin Brockovich, and Howard Zinn.

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