Trial Lawyers’ Latest Target: Life-Sustaining Baby Formula

In The News | September 4, 2024

Judges must recognize these cases for what they are: a cynical attempt to turn the suffering of families into a litigation jackpot.

In America’s courtrooms a disturbing trend is unfolding that threatens not just the integrity of our legal system, but the health and lives of the most vulnerable among us: premature infants relying on life-sustaining baby formula.

Trial lawyers, armed with dubious science and driven by the prospect of massive paydays, have zeroed in on baby formula manufacturers, risking yet another public health crisis that could leave parents scrambling. We need only recall the panic and shortages of 2022 to understand the potential impact on newborns and their desperate caretakers as this needless litigation threatens to upend infant food supplies.

Lawyers peddling junk science related to baby formula safety already are seeing some success finding big payouts with juries in Judicial Hellholes® awarding nuclear verdicts. In July, a St. Louis, Missouri, jury handed down a nearly $500 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories while in March, Reckitt Benckiser was ordered to pay $60 million by an Illinois jury.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers in these cases claim that prescribed, fortified infant formula increases the risk of a life-threatening intestinal disease in preemies called necrotizing enterocolitis, pinning the blame for tragic loss on manufacturers of life-sustaining formulas.

However, these rulings, along with the evidence on which they are based, fly in the face of established medical science and regulatory guidance. This misguided litigation potentially jeopardizes a critical nutritional lifeline for at-risk infants. Human-made breast milk may be best for preemies in need, but as a mother of three young children, I know that it’s not always a viable option for a variety of reasons. Whether it be that the birthing parent is unable to produce milk, or that donated milk is not available, families worldwide rely on formula to feed their newborns.

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