Reckitt unit hit with $60 million verdict in Enfamil baby formula case
in Illinois
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[March 15, 2024]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) - An Illinois jury has ordered Reckitt Benckiser unit Mead
Johnson to pay $60 million to the mother of a premature baby who died of
an intestinal disease after being fed the company's Enfamil baby
formula.
The jury in an Illinois state court in St. Clair County on Wednesday
found that Mead Johnson was negligent and that it failed to warn of the
risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). The disease, which causes the
death of bowel tissue, mostly affects premature newborns and has a
fatality rate of about 15% to 40%.
The $60 million verdict includes compensation for plaintiff Jasmine
Watson's loss and grief, and for the pain and suffering of her baby,
Chance Dean.
The verdict comes in the first trial out of hundreds of lawsuits
claiming that various Enfamil and Abbott Laboratories' Similac formulas
caused NEC.
According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, there is evidence
that formula increases the risk of NEC in premature infants compared
with breast milk.
"This verdict confirms what Mead Johnson has known for years: cow's-milk
based baby formula causes NEC in preterm infants, often with fatal
consequences," Ben Whiting, a lawyer for Watson, said in a statement.
Mead Johnson said in a statement that it was disappointed with the
verdict and would appeal it.
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![](../images/031524PIX/health98.jpg)
Mead Johnson's product, Enfamil baby formula, is displayed on a
store shelf in New York City, U.S., February 10, 2017.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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"We continue to believe that the
allegations from the plaintiff's lawyers in this case were not
supported by the science or experts in the medical community," it
said.
More than 400 NEC lawsuits against Mead Johnson and Abbott are
pending in federal court in Chicago, and others, like Watson's are
in state courts.
Plaintiffs in the cases say that the companies concealed the fact
that their formula, including products made specifically for
premature infants and others, was riskier than alternatives like
donor milk.
The companies have denied the allegations.
The NEC lawsuits are separate from ongoing litigation against Abbott
over the shutdown of its Sturgis, Michigan, plant and subsequent
recall of batches of baby formula for possible contamination, which
contributed to a nationwide formula shortage in 2022.
Abbott has denied that it distributed tainted formula.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis)
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