CVN screenshot of defense attorney James Hurst
St. Louis, MO - A Missouri state court jury delivered the first defense verdict Thursday in favor of baby formula manufacturers Abbott and Mead Johnson unit Reckitt, who faced accusations of producing cows milk-based formula supposedly harmful to premature infants, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The St. Louis jury returned their verdict following a five-week trial that marked just the third time a jury heard claims that cows milk-based formula can cause a dangerous bowel condition called necrotising enterocolitis, or NEC. Earlier trials resulted in plaintiff verdicts against Abbott and Reckitt individually, but this case was the first joint trial involving both companies.
Earlier this year an Illinois jury returned a $60 million verdict over Mead Johnson’s Enfamil brand formula in the first NEC baby formula trial anywhere in the country. A second trial last summer - and the first against Abbott - ended in a $495 million verdict of their Similac brand formula. That trial was also recorded by CVN.
Both trials are available for unlimited on-demand viewing with a subscription to CVN’s online trial video library. Along with the baby formula trials, a subscription includes access to hundreds of civil trials from throughout the United States featuring a wide range of practice areas and many of top plaintiff and defense attorneys in the country.
Plaintiff Elizabeth Whitfield sued Abbott and Reckitt on behalf of her son Kaine, now seven. Her attorneys argued Kaine developed NEC after being born prematurely and receiving the defendants’ formula, and that he will suffer a lifetime of health problems due to surgery to remove part of his bowel. They sought roughly $6.2 billion in damages.
Throughout the trial the Whitfields’ attorneys argued Abbott and Reckitt knew cows milk-based formula increased the risk of developing NEC, but they withheld that information while at the same time aggressively marketing the formulas for use in hospital settings.
However the companies argued - successfully for the first time - that their formulas provide critically needed nourishment to infants that already face a range of serious health risks by virtue of being born prematurely. They acknowledged that human milk helps protect against NEC, but their expert witnesses told jurors there is no scientific evidence that the formulas actually cause the condition.
"The decision reinforces what we, the medical community and regulatory bodies have said: that preterm infant nutrition products are safe," an Abbott spokesperson said in a statement after the trial.
A Mead Johnson spokesperson expressed similar sentiments, stating the verdict “demonstrates that the claims in this case were not supported by the science or experts in the medical community."
A spokesperson for plaintiff firm Keller Postman expressed their “deep disappointment” in the verdict said the firm is “considering all options” moving forward.
Thousands of NEC-related lawsuits remain pending nationwide - many in federal multi-district litigation consolidated in Chicago - and Thursday’s verdict produced a surge in both Abbott and Reckitt’s stock prices.
Abbott was represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Reckitt was represented by Tucker Ellis LLP and Covington & Burling LLP.
The plaintiffs were represented by The Simon Law Firm PC and Keller Postman.
The case is case is captioned K.W. a minor and through his next friend Elizabeth Whitfield v. St. Louis Children’s Hospital, et al. case number 2222-CC06214.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
