Products Liability
This page is about Similac NEC baby formula lawsuits. Our lawyers handle Similac lawsuits in all 50 states.
Our baby formula attorneys provide information on the following:
- how Similac (and Enfamil) causes NEC,
- the status of the new class action Similac NEC lawsuit in September 2023 and where this litigation will go in the next year (i.e., is there a settlement on the horizon?)
- potential settlement compensation amounts for Similac baby formula lawsuits for injuries and wrongful death for premature babies who suffered from NEC and
- The Similac recall
This page provides the latest updates in the Similac baby formula litigation. Our lawyers believe you should be kept informed. The last baby formula claim update was on July 27, 2024.
NEC Baby Formula Lawsuit Verdicts and Litigation Status (Updated July 2025)
The NEC baby formula litigation took a major turn in 2024 and 2025 with three completed trials — including two major plaintiff victories and one mistrial. These lawsuits allege that cow’s milk-based infant formula products, including Similac (Abbott Laboratories) and Enfamil (Mead Johnson), cause necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in premature babies. Plaintiffs claim that the companies failed to warn about this deadly risk despite overwhelming medical literature linking baby formula and NEC.
First Verdict – Missouri (July 2024)
In July 2024, a Missouri jury awarded a historic $495 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories, including $400 million in punitive damages. The case centered on a premature baby who developed NEC after being fed Similac in a hospital. The jury found Abbott’s failure to warn was egregious and that the company acted with conscious disregard for infant safety.
This verdict became a landmark moment in the baby formula NEC lawsuit landscape. It was the first time a jury formally held a formula manufacturer accountable for causing NEC in preemies.
Second Verdict – Illinois (March 2025)
In March 2025, a jury in Cook County, Illinois awarded another plaintiff victory, delivering a $60 million verdict in a case involving a baby who died from NEC after being fed both Similac and Enfamil. This case named both Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson as defendants. Jurors again found that the companies failed to adequately warn about the risk of NEC from cow’s milk-based formula in vulnerable preterm infants.
This second win confirmed that juries are taking these claims seriously and are willing to award substantial damages for baby formula causing NEC injuries.
Third Trial – Mistrial (June 2025)
In June 2025, a third NEC baby formula trial, also in Illinois, ended in a mistrial. Jurors reportedly deadlocked after days of deliberation, unable to reach a unanimous verdict. While disappointing for the plaintiff in that individual case, the mistrial did not reverse the overall momentum. If anything, it underscored how close these cases are and how dangerous they are for the formula manufacturers.
Where the NEC Litigation Stands Now
These early outcomes have supercharged the NEC multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 3026) pending in the Northern District of Illinois. Hundreds of lawsuits involving Similac and Enfamil are consolidated in that court. Plaintiffs allege that Abbott Laboratories’ products and Mead Johnson’s formulas caused necrotizing enterocolitis in preemies without adequate warnings or guidance to physicians or parents.
As of mid-2025:
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There is no global NEC baby formula lawsuit settlement, but talks are ongoing.
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Plaintiffs continue to press for bellwether trials inside the MDL.
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More state court trials are scheduled in California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Similac NEC Lawsuit Update
The NEC class action suits in state and federal courts are progressing at a steady, albeit unhurried, pace, with visible advancements. Plaintiffs believe the meritorious cases hold promise, but there might not be as many of the “best cases” as lawyers initially anticipated. It is hard to know what other lawyers have in their inventory. However, we believe our law firm’s inventory of NEC lawsuits comprises solid cases where the child could have been protected from NEC if there had been an adequate warning on the product.
Over 200 cases have been filed in the Northern District of Illinois’s multidistrict litigation (MDL). Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer is running the federal NEC lawsuits against Mead and Abbott. There are also a ton of these cases in state court.
The first federal bellwether trial in the MDL is currently scheduled to begin on November 10, 2025. This case will be critical in shaping the litigation moving forward. If the trial proceeds as scheduled, and is not preempted by a global baby formula settlement, it will give the parties and the court a benchmark for evaluating NEC baby formula lawsuit values on a broader scale.. But nothing can change that we have already seen two big verdicts in state court in Illinois ($40 million) and Missouri ($495 million which have really changed the landscape of this litigation.
Similac Lawsuits for Causing NEC in Premature Infants
Similac lawsuits have been filed around the country alleging that the popular cow-milk-based baby formula has caused many premature infants to develop a severe gastrointestinal infection called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Miller & Zois is investigating potential Similac lawsuits against the formula manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, for failing to warn about the risks of NEC associated with Similac. Parents who bring a successful baby formula NEC lawsuit could receive significant financial compensation.
Below, our baby formula lawyers discuss potential settlement amounts for a Similac baby formula lawsuit involving NEC.
Similac Can Cause Increased Risk of NEC in Premature Infants
Similac is a very popular infant formula brand made from cow milk and given to newborns as a substitute for human breast milk.
Medical research and clinical studies have established that giving cow milk formulas such as Similac to premature infants significantly increases their risk of a dangerous bowel infection called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
NEC is a severe bacterial infection in the gastrointestinal system of infants that can cause rapid decay and death of tissue in the baby’s inner intestinal walls. NEC can develop in the small or large intestine, and the necrotizing infection originates in the inner lining of the intestinal walls and eventually impacts the entire thickness of the intestine.
NEC cases range in severity. Some cases of NEC can be very mild and cause only mild discomfort. A certain percentage of NEC cases are very severe and potentially life-threatening for the baby. NEC causes severe inflammation of the bowels and pain. If not immediately treated, severe cases of NEC can cause a perforation or hole in the intestinal wall as the tissue dies.
If NEC causes a perforation in the intestine, it can be very dangerous and possibly fatal for the baby. The perforation allows harmful bacteria inside the intestine to leak into the abdominal cavity. This can rapidly progress into a widespread internal infection and eventually cause a deadly bloodstream infection called sepsis.
The scientific evidence linking NEC to Similac dates back over 30 years. Recent research has conclusively confirmed that premature babies given Similac (or other cow-milk-based formulas) have a significantly higher risk of NEC than those fed with breast milk. Premature babies fed with a cow-milk formula, such as Similac, are ten times more at risk for developing NEC than those fed with breast milk.
This has led the American Academy of Pediatrics and many other prominent public health organizations to strongly caution against feeding premature infants of Similac or other cow milk formulas.
The Manufacturer of Similac Deliberately Failed to Warn About the Risk of NEC
Similac is the brand name for a broad portfolio of Abbott infant formula products it sells to provide nutrition to full-term infants, preterm infants, and infants with dietary restrictions. Some of these products are sold in retail stores, but some are only available in a hospital setting.
Abbott Laboratories Inc. (“Abbott”) manufactures and sells the Similac infant formula brand. Abbott has been fully aware of the evidence linking Similac to higher rates of NEC in premature infants.
Despite being aware of this scientific evidence, Abbott has failed to include a warning label on their Similac products, cautioning doctors and parents about the increased risk of NEC associated with Similac and premature infants. Every Similac baby formula claim will primarily focus on Abbott’s failure to warn.
Why? Abbott is legally obligated to warn about known risks and dangers associated with its product as a product manufacturer. Abbott has made a deliberate choice not to include any warnings about NEC on its product labeling for Similac, presumably to avoid any negative impact on the marketability of Similac. The battle of Similac vs. Enfamil is hard-fought. The first formula to provide an NEC warning will lose market share.
So Abbott’s failure to warn about NEC is the foundation for the legal claims in the Similac NEC baby formula lawsuits being filed against the company.
Listen, if this sounds like a plaintiffs’ lawyer old trope about big companies choosing profits over people, look at this Similac recall. It seems clear Abbott knew that its powdered baby formula was contaminated, but it did nothing but let more children get sick and die.
Status of Similac Lawsuits
Lawyers are still in the early stages of litigation involving Similac and the increased risk of NED in premature infants. New Similac NEC lawsuits are being filed against Abbott in courts nationwide. Our Similac baby formula attorneys are accepting new cases in all 50 states.
Every Similac lawsuit has asserted product liability claims against Abbott based on negligent failure to warn and strict product liability.
How a Similac Class Action Lawsuit Works
As the NEC baby formula lawsuits continue to grow, all pending Similac lawsuits in the federal courts are consolidated into a new “class action” MDL (multi-district litigation) under Chief Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois.
So if you file your Similac lawsuit in federal court in California, Texas, New York, or any other state, your claim will be transferred to Illinois. There are now over 200 lawsuits filed in the Enfamil and Similac class action lawsuit in federal court in Illinois. But that class action is expected to snowball.
MDLs in mass tort product liability litigation are similar to traditional class actions. The difference is the lawsuits remain separate and are only consolidated for pretrial discovery. But many of our clients will also file their Similac baby formula claim in Illinois, where the law is favorable (and Abbott is headquartered).
Historically, a class action in deserving cases with high damages and good evidence of the defendants’ responsibility is a pathway to a global baby formula NEC settlement.
Where are we now in the MDL class action? NEC baby formula lawyers just provided the MDL judge with a proposed plan for selecting a pool of 12 bellwether candidate cases. The idea is to figure out which NEC lawsuits should go to trial first. This is a big deal because these verdicts will be used to calculate Similac settlement amounts should the parties agree to a settlement. The lawyers will select a representative group of 12 cases. These cases will then go through a fact discovery phase, after which each side will get to select two out of the 12 for the first four bellwether test trials.
How Much Will Similac Lawsuits Be Worth in Settlement?
Lawyers are still in the very earliest stages of the Similac NEC litigation. None of the baby formula NEC lawsuits have been settled or gone to trial. This makes it difficult to speculate on the potential settlement value of these cases involving Neosure and Pro-Advance and the other cow milk formulas made by Abbott for premature babies.
Our baby formula lawyers can project settlement amounts. How? By looking at settlement amounts and jury payout verdicts in recent medical malpractice lawsuits in which the primary injury was NEC in a premature infant. Is this a perfec calculator for NEC settlement amounts? Of course not. But it is a step towards a better understanding of possible settlement compensation in these lawsuits.
That Said, What Do You Expect Similac Baby Formula Lawsuit Settlement Amounts to Look Like?
The average verdict or settlement amount in the seven most recent malpractice lawsuits our lawyer found for NEC in premature infants was around $3.5 million. The median amount of money awarded in these seven NEC cases was $1.3 million. Now we have these two huge verdict that are actually in NEC formula lawsuits that dwarf this number.
Our baby formula lawyers believe the trial value is likely higher than this because Abbott, a large company that makes a significant profit from this product, is less sympathetic than doctors and nurses. You saw that play out in those verdicts, right?
But… settlement amounts in an MDL class action lawsuit are invariably lower than the trial value. So, with the caveat that this is pure speculation, our attorneys predict a per-person average settlement value of a Similac NEC lawsuit in the $300,000 to $800,000 range. Where a settlement would fall in that range will depend upon the severity of the baby’s injuries.
Federal Similac Class Action Lawsuit for NEC
The federal NEC class action lawsuit involving Similac and Enfamil is consolidated under MDL No. 3026 in the Northern District of Illinois. This multidistrict litigation (MDL), titled In re: Abbott Laboratories, et al., Preterm Infant Nutrition Prod. Liab. Lit., brings together hundreds of lawsuits alleging that cow’s milk-based infant formulas, including Similac (made by Abbott Laboratories) and Enfamil (made by Mead Johnson), cause necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants.
The presiding judge is Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, who has overseen the MDL since its formation in 2022. The litigation is now in an advanced phase, with discovery ongoing and the first federal bellwether trial scheduled to begin on November 10, 2025.
As of July 2025, more than 500 NEC lawsuits have been centralized in the MDL. These include a growing number of Similac NEC lawsuits filed by families whose premature babies developed NEC after being fed Abbott Laboratories products in neonatal intensive care units.
If you file a baby formula nec lawsuit in federal court anywhere in the U.S.—whether in California, Texas, New York, Michigan, or Florida—your case will be transferred to this MDL for pretrial proceedings.
Similac NEC Class Action Lawsuit in Illinois State Court
A large number of NEC infant formula lawsuits have been filed in Illinois state courts because both primary defendants (Abbott Laboratories & Mead Johnson) are based in the Chicago area. These lawsuits were most filed before the federal class action.
Lawyers for many of these plaintiffs filed a motion asking the Supreme Court of Illinois to consolidate all pending NEC lawsuits into a single baby formula class action lawsuit in Madison County.
Both companies ultimately agreed to a consolidation because it would be much more cost-efficient than defending so many separate cases simultaneously. The Illinois Supreme Court consolidated all pending NEC lawsuits in the state into a single (sort of) class action lawsuit.
NEC State Court Class Action Similar to Federal MDL
What does this mean? Illinois has favorable laws for victims claiming injuries like NEC. Just like the MDL class action, many lawyers with cases outside of Illinois may still file a Similac formula lawsuit in that state even if the claim originated in California, New York, Texas, or any other jurisdiction.
Why not just file an NEC federal court class action? There are tactical reasons for Similac attorneys to make different choices as to where a particular NEC Similac lawsuit should be filed.
- How does an MDL class action work?
Is There a Similac Recall?
There is also a Similac recall class action. This is not the NEC litigation. It is based on the Similac recall on February 18, 2022. This recall is for Similac, EleCare, and Alimentum manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan. This Similac recall comes on the heels of reports of Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella Newport in infants who had consumed these baby formula products made at the Michigan facility.
So there is a Similac recall class action lawsuit that has been filed seeking essentially refunds of the purchase price for thousands (or millions) of unnamed consumers who bought potentially contaminated Similac.
A named plaintiff in one of these class action Similac recall cases in California recently filed a motion asking the JPML to consolidate all other Similac recall cases into a new MDL. The motion was filed last month, and it identifies eighteen Similac recall lawsuits pending around the U.S. sixteen of these Similac recall cases are consumer class-actions and only two are product liability cases alleging physical injuries.
In late May 2022, Robert Califf, Commissioner of the FDA, testified before Congress regarding the Similac formula recall and shutdown of the Abbott Laboratories manufacturing facility in Sturgis, MI. The shutdown of the Abbott facility and related recall of Similac formula has accelerated the national shortage of infant formula in the U.S. which has recently generated national news coverage. Califf’s testimony offers details on the numerous sanitary problems at the Abbott facility in Michigan that led to the shutdown of the plant. The whole thing is a mess and Abbott’s CEO is not denying mistakes were made.
Abbott Will Want to Settle These Similac Lawsuits
We believe Abbott Laboratories will eventually make a serious effort to settle the Similac lawsuits, particularly those involving the most severe injuries and wrongful death claims linked to NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) in premature infants. The legal exposure in these cases is significant, especially in the wake of the large jury verdicts already issued in related trials. The risks of continuing to defend these lawsuits at trial are becoming too great for Abbott to ignore.
Abbott also faces increasing public scrutiny for its role in manufacturing and promoting baby formula products without adequately warning parents and healthcare providers about the NEC risks for premature babies. As these cases continue and more damaging internal documents are exposed during discovery, the company’s reputation may suffer further. This type of reputational harm has real financial consequences and tends to prompt corporations to seek a global settlement.
We expect any serious Similac settlement discussions will focus on high-value cases first, those involving permanent disability, surgical injuries, or the death of a newborn. But more broadly, as public outrage grows and the plaintiffs continue to secure victories in court, our lawyers believe the potential settlement value in the NEC formula litigation against both Abbott and Mead Johnson will rise accordingly. A company cannot continue to frame itself as family-centered while fighting parents in court over preventable injuries to premature babies. Eventually, Abbott will recognize that settling these claims makes the most sense for everyone.
Defense in NEC Similac Baby Formula Lawsuits
Abbott’s lawyers understandably do not want Similac formula claims to go to a jury. So they are crafting legal arguments to try to prevent victims from having their day in court. Abbott’s two big arguments are preemption and learned intermediary.
Abbott will argue that the plaintiffs’ Similac NEC lawsuits are preempted by federal law under the Infant Formula Act (“IFA”) 20 U.S.C. § 350a. The IFA is a federal law that comprehensively regulates how infant formula is made and its product labeling. It also requires infant formula products to undergo an FDA review process before being sold.
Abbott claims that the tort law claims in the NEC lawsuit are preempted by the IFA because “it would be impossible to comply with both state and federal requirements.” Specifically, Abbott argues that preemption law precludes the plaintiffs’ claim that Similac was defectively designed. Abbott asserts that it went through the FDA review and approval process required by the IFA which included consideration of whether cow milk is safe as an ingredient.
The reality is that Abbott is used to losing this argument in drug lawsuits and the Infant Formula Act and our baby formula lawyers have never seen a single case where there was preemption in a baby formula lawsuit.
Abbott will also contend that the plaintiffs’ claims based on failure to warn of the risk of Similac are barred by what is called the learned intermediary doctrine. This argument is that Abbott has no legal obligation to warn the parents because under the learned intermediary rule the duty to warn belonged to the child’s doctors.
This argument may be technically correct for some of the Similac formulas that were only available in a hospital setting. Many NEC formula lawsuits involve these products. But Abbott still had a duty to warn doctors of the NEC danger with its infant formula. So this legal argument will likely go nowhere.
Contact Our Similac NEC Lawyers Today
The product liability lawyers at Miller & Zois are seeking Similac NEC lawsuits from parents of premature infants who were fed with Similac (or another cow milk-based formula) and subsequently developed NEC.
Call a Similac lawyer to talk about how we can help your family fight for compensation at 800-553-8082 or get a free online case evaluation.