NEC Formula Lawsuit Update 2026: Verdicts and Next Trial

NEC Baby Formula Lawsuits in 2026: Where Verdicts, Appeals, and Bellwether Trials Stand

A federal jury in Chicago returned a unanimous verdict for Mead Johnson on August 31, 2026 in Inman v. Mead Johnson, the first bellwether in the NEC baby formula MDL to reach a jury. Eleven days earlier, Abbott Laboratories agreed to pay about $670 million to resolve the $495 million Gill verdict and claims for roughly 2,000 other infants. The next federal test is Kelton v. Abbott, a Similac case the court has set for a jury trial on October 15, 2026, and 847 cases were pending in MDL 3026 as of the JPML's September 1 report.

The August 2026 trial did go forward, though not in the order announced last fall. In November 2025, Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer picked three Similac cases for trials in August 2026, November 2026, and February 2027. This spring she moved an Enfamil case, Inman, to the front of the line and slotted Kelton second. Kelton has since moved to October, and the later dates are unsettled: in July, Abbott asked the court to select replacement bellwethers after plaintiffs dismissed two bellwether cases.

Every NEC Formula Verdict So Far

Six NEC formula trials have ended in jury verdicts. Plaintiffs won the first large awards and the defense has won the most recent ones, but none of the three plaintiff verdicts has been paid as a final judgment.

The $60 million Watson verdict was the first in the litigation. In June 2026, the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court reversed it and ordered a new trial, finding the trial judge failed to apply the learned intermediary doctrine, which limits a manufacturer's duty to warn to the treating physicians rather than the patient.

Gill went the other way on appeal. The Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the full $495 million award in May 2026, writing that "we find Abbott's conduct significantly reprehensible," and then declined to send Abbott's appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court. Abbott settled that appeal in August.

The April 2026 trial in Cook County was the first against Abbott in an Illinois state court. Four Chicago-area mothers whose babies developed NEC after receiving Similac Special Care won $53 million in compensatory and $17 million in punitive damages, and Abbott said it would appeal.

On the defense side, a St. Louis jury cleared both manufacturers in Whitfield in October 2024, but the trial judge granted the plaintiff a new trial, and a Missouri appeals court affirmed that order on August 11, 2026. A different St. Louis jury sided with Mead Johnson in Collins on July 2, 2026, in a case over Enfamil Premature 24 fed to an infant born at 25 weeks.

The Federal MDL: Summary Judgments, One Trial, and a Live-Witness Rule

Before Inman, no federal bellwether had reached a jury. Judge Pallmeyer granted Abbott pretrial wins in all three of its Similac bellwethers, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed the first of them, Mar v. Abbott, on July 24, 2026. The appeals court held that a stronger warning would not have changed what the infant was fed: the mother could no longer produce usable breast milk, and the hospital had no donor milk.

Opening arguments in Inman began August 17, and the jury returned its verdict August 31. Plaintiff Alexis Inman alleged that Enfamil Premature formula caused the NEC that killed her son, and jurors rejected her design defect and failure-to-warn claims after about five hours of deliberation. Mead Johnson now says it has no outstanding jury verdicts against it anywhere in the NEC litigation.

The court has also changed how future trials will run. In an August 13, 2026 order, Judge Pallmeyer warned that she will not conduct another bellwether trial without assurances that most fact witnesses will testify live and in person, and told the parties to pick alternatives for any case that cannot meet that standard. At an August 3 status hearing, the parties reported that MDL-wide discovery is largely complete and said they would give the court more information about next steps toward resolution.

State Courts Have Produced Every Plaintiff Verdict

Abbott's count of about 1,700 remaining lawsuits is roughly twice the 847 on the federal docket, which puts about half of the litigation in state courts. Every plaintiff verdict so far has come from Illinois or Missouri state courts.

The learned intermediary doctrine has become the manufacturers' strongest state-court defense. Abbott described the Watson reversal as turning on a defense "relevant in a substantial number of cases", and in March 2026 a Florida state judge threw out an Abbott case that was set for trial the next month on the same doctrine. The Missouri Court of Appeals, by contrast, let the Gill award stand in full.

Settlements: Abbott Moves, Mead Johnson Holds

Abbott's August 20 agreements with three plaintiffs' firms resolve Gill and about 2,000 other claims for an aggregate of roughly $670 million, without admitting liability. The company said the remaining population of about 12,700 infants includes claims that name both manufacturers without identifying which formula was used, infants diagnosed with NEC before receiving any formula, and people who appear in more than one lawsuit.

Mead Johnson, owned by Reckitt, has not announced any NEC settlement. Its statement after Inman says it will "continue to vigorously defend ourselves against all such claims."

Records That Decide NEC Cases

Several of this year's rulings turned on how and why an infant was fed formula. The Mar ruling came down to whether the mother's milk was usable and whether donor milk was available, and Mead Johnson's defense in Inman argued the baby was moved from donor milk to formula after failing to grow. Those facts live in NICU feeding orders and lactation notes, not in anyone's recollection.

NICU records document feeding type (formula, mother's milk, or donor milk), volumes, and schedules. For infants hospitalized for weeks or months, feeding logs can run to hundreds of pages across shifts.

Product identification has to be explicit. Nursing flow sheets, formulary logs, and nutrition orders should name the exact product, such as Similac Special Care or Enfamil Premature, because claims that name both manufacturers without identifying the formula are exactly the ones Abbott says it is working to eliminate.

Gestational age, surgical, and pathology records establish prematurity, confirm the NEC diagnosis, and document bowel resections, ostomies, and later pediatric gastroenterology care for damages.

Because premature infants often move between a birth hospital, a Level IV NICU, and pediatric surgical centers, one claimant's records can sit with several health systems. Reverse search uses insurance data to fill in treatment gaps clients don't always remember, surfacing facilities, dates, and clinicians as needed. Records generally return in 4 days on average through mass tort medical record retrieval, with roughly 30-40% returned same-day on electronic or portal requests, and each file carries an itemized per-case invoice that flows through as a recoverable case disbursement on settlement statements.

Dates to Watch

• September 30, 2026: arguments on Kelton motions in limine and an in-person MDL status hearing before Judge Pallmeyer.
• October 15, 2026: the Kelton v. Abbott jury trial, if the case survives summary judgment and the witness dispute.
• No date reported yet: the Watson and Whitfield retrials, Abbott's appeal of the Cook County verdict, and replacement bellwether picks in the MDL.

The Bottom Line

The two manufacturers are now on different paths. Abbott has paid to resolve its largest verdict but still faces a federal trial in October and the $70 million Cook County award. Mead Johnson won the Watson reversal, Collins, and Inman this summer, still faces a Whitfield retrial, and says it will keep defending every claim.

For firms carrying NEC files, the rulings so far have turned as much on case-specific facts as on the general causation science. Complete feeding records, clear product identification, and treating witnesses who can appear in court are what the current rulings reward.

Sources: Reckitt (Inman verdict, Aug. 31, 2026), Abbott press release (Aug. 20, 2026), JPML pending MDL report (Sept. 1, 2026), MDL 3026 docket (CourtListener), Kelton v. Abbott docket (CourtListener), Reuters (Watson reversal), Reuters (Gill transfer denied), Reuters (Gill appeal settled), Reuters (Collins verdict), Reuters (Whitfield new trial, 2025), Chicago Tribune (Cook County verdict), Chicago Tribune (Gill affirmed), Law360 (Whitfield retrial affirmed), Law.com (Collins and Watson), Law.com (Florida dismissal), Bloomberg Law (Mar affirmed), Top Class Actions (Inman deliberations), AboutLawsuits (2025 bellwether schedule), AboutLawsuits (Inman and Kelton order). Case data current as of September 29, 2026. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice.