A St. Louis jury awarded an Illinois mother nearly $500 million in a verdict against Abbott Laboratories after she claimed the company’s Similac was responsible for her daughter’s severe injuries.
The verdict was issued July 26 in St. Louis Circuit Court. The jury ordered Abbott to pay $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages. The company said it would appeal the ruling.
“There is no scientific evidence showing Abbott’s preterm infant products cause or contribute to causing NEC,” the company said in a statement. “Specialized formulas and fortifiers, like the one in this case, are part of the standard of care by the medical community and, along with mother’s milk and donor human milk, are the only available options to feed premature infants. …
“Total revenues for these products are about $9 million annually and have remained at that level for the past several years. If these products were no longer available, physicians would be deprived of this vital food that is needed in the NICU.”
NEC is a life-threatening illness that can affect premature infants.
Gill’s attorneys claimed Abbott knew the baby formula could increase the risk for developing NEC but failed to adequately disclose that information while marketing it for use in hospitals. But Abbott claimed the girl’s injuries were caused by lack of oxygen from a traumatic birthing process and occurred before she was given received any formula.
The girl was born premature and was forced to undergo extensive surgery and has continued to suffer long-term health consequences.
The trial began July 9 before Judge Michael Noble. Experts say the verdict likely will affect similar lawsuits in state and federal courts across the country against Abbott and Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Enfamil.
“The jury followed the evidence and made the right decision," said Jack Garvey, founding member of Stranch Jennings & Garvey and co-lead counsel for the lawsuit. "I consider it a great honor to have brought some level of justice to the family."
Gill also was represented by attorneys from TorHoerman Law.
In the complaint, attorneys argued that "despite scientific consensus that defendants' cow's milk-based products present a dire threat to the health and development of preterm infants, defendants have made no changes to their products or the products' packaging, guidelines, instructions, or warnings. Instead, defendants have continued to sell their unreasonably dangerous products to unsuspecting parents and healthcare providers, generating huge profits as a result."
The lawsuit also claimed the defendants breached their duty through misrepresentations made to consumers, physicians and medical staff in their advertising and promotional materials and interactions and that Abbott's acts, omissions and/or representations showed a deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others.
There are hundreds of lawsuits still pending claiming cow's milk-based baby formula products can cause NEC. The lawsuits also claim manufacturers of these products failed to warn of the higher risk of NEC in infants who were given their products versus infants who received breast milk or human milk-derived formula.
This case was the first NEC brought against Abbott and was the second trial alleging that cow's milk-based baby formula given to premature infants can cause NEC. In the earlier case, Watson v. Mead Johnson, an Illinois jury awarded $60 million to a plaintiff whose child died from NEC.
22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri case number 2322-CC01251