On Wednesday, a lawyer for a Missouri mother asked a jury to order Abbott (ABT.N) and Reckitt’s (RKT.L) Mead Johnson to pay over $6 billion in the latest trial. The claim is that the companies’ premature baby formulas caused a severe intestinal illness.
The litigation has worried doctors, who fear it could threaten formula availability or impact medical decisions. Abbott CEO Robert Ford told investors the company might pull its premature infant formula from the market due to the lawsuits. In July, Reckitt said it was “considering options” for Mead Johnson, and CEO Kris Licht didn’t rule out a sale.
“Companies must clearly and unambiguously tell the truth about their products, especially those for the most vulnerable,” said Tim Cronin, representing Elizabeth Whitfield and her son Kaine, in his closing argument after a five – week trial in St. Louis, Missouri.
Cronin said the companies failed to warn that their formulas could cause necrotizing enterocolitis. He said Kaine got the disease after receiving the formula in a St. Louis hospital’s NICU in 2017, leading to lifelong health and developmental issues.
Cronin asked the jury to award Kaine nearly $277 million in compensatory damages for past and future healthcare costs, lost earning potential, and pain and suffering. He also urged them to order Abbott to pay $5 billion and Mead Johnson $1 billion in punitive damages, based on company sizes.
Both companies maintain that while mother’s and donated human milk are known to protect against necrotizing enterocolitis, formula doesn’t cause it.
Rebecca Fitzpatrick, an Abbott lawyer, told jurors in her closing statement that the formula couldn’t have caused Kaine’s illness as it was only used to “top off” his mother’s milk. She said Kaine had other risk factors like anemia and antibiotic – treated infections that increased his disease risk. “Kaine simply would have gotten (necrotizing enterocolitis) no matter what he was fed,” she said.
Whitfield’s sought verdict could be one of the largest in U.S. history. But even if the jury awards it, it could be reduced on appeal for reasons including the Supreme Court’s rule that punitive damages should generally be less than 10 times compensatory damages.
While the hospital was a defendant, Cronin didn’t ask for damages against it, though he said the jurors could.
Whitfield’s case is one of nearly 1,000 in U.S. courts alleging that Abbott’s and Mead’s specialized formulas for premature babies cause the illness. Previous trials resulted in $60 million and $495 million verdicts against Mead and Abbott respectively.
After the earlier verdicts, U.S. regulatory agencies and an NIH – convened scientist group said current evidence doesn’t support the formula – causes – necrotizing – enterocolitis hypothesis. Abbott and Mead weren’t allowed to present these statements to the jury in this trial.
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