Baby Formula Lawsuit Defendants File for Summary Judgment as Trial Approaches
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Citing new research and issues with expert testimony, Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson are looking to swiftly end much of the litigation involving their baby formulas.
The defendants filed for summary judgment in federal court last Friday. This move would resolve the litigation in their favor without a trial if approved.
To grant summary judgment, a judge will first review the evidence and claims from both sides. If the judge determines there are no genuine disputes over material facts requiring jury deliberation, they may grant summary judgment. A material fact is one that may affect the final ruling.
There are currently over 600 baby formula lawsuits pending in multidistrict litigation (MDL) claiming that some cow’s milk formulas cause necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) when fed to premature infants. NEC is a serious and potentially deadly intestinal issue. But, the defendants claim in newly filed court documents that research released by the National Institutes of Health contradicts those claims.
The NIH report, released in September, said that evidence suggests that the absence of human milk may be associated with a higher risk of NEC, rather than cow’s milk causing the condition.
The defendants also noted issues with expert testimony provided by plaintiffs. For example, they claim that one expert “relies on a faulty, made-for-litigation methodology.”
Baby Formula Lawsuits Already Seeing Big Wins
The motion for summary judgment comes just a few months before the first baby formula bellwether trial is set to take place as part of the federal MDL.
Bellwether trials are a key part of the litigation process. They serve as a test case to inform both sides of the likely direction of the litigation.
While summary judgment could halt that trial if approved, it is unclear if the court will side with the defendants.
Several baby formula trials have already occurred in state court over these same claims. These state court trials have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars awarded to plaintiffs.
An Illinois jury awarded $60 million last March to the mother of a premature infant who died from NEC. A St. Louis jury then awarded a staggering $495 million a few months later to the family of an infant that developed NEC.
The first win for defendants last year came in November in a case that named both Abbott and Mead Johnson as defendants.
The bellwether trial is set to begin on May 5.
Editor Lindsay Donaldson contributed to this article.