How much is Abbott's NEC settlement worth?

Abbott announced on August 20, 2026 that it will pay approximately $670 million to resolve the Gill case, in which a Missouri jury awarded $495 million in 2024, along with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) claims asserted on behalf of roughly 2,000 additional infants. The agreements are with three plaintiffs' firms, and Abbott admitted no liability.

How did the Inman v. Mead Johnson trial end?

A federal jury in Chicago returned a unanimous verdict for Mead Johnson on August 31, 2026, after about five hours of deliberation following a two-week trial. Jurors rejected the plaintiff's design defect and failure-to-warn claims. Inman was the first bellwether in MDL 3026 to reach a jury.

How many NEC formula cases are still pending?

Abbott's August 20 announcement said roughly 1,700 lawsuits remain pending in federal and state courts, involving about 12,700 infants. The federal MDL 3026 docket in the Northern District of Illinois held 847 pending actions as of the JPML's September 1, 2026 report.

What other NEC verdicts has Abbott faced besides Gill?

In April 2026, a Cook County, Illinois jury awarded four families $53 million in compensatory and $17 million in punitive damages against Abbott over Similac Special Care, and Abbott said it would appeal. Abbott and Mead Johnson also won a defense verdict in Whitfield in St. Louis in 2024, but a Missouri appeals court affirmed an order for a new trial on August 11, 2026. The next federal trial, Kelton v. Abbott, is set for October 15, 2026.

What medical records matter most in NEC formula lawsuits?

NICU feeding records identifying the specific formula brand and volume administered, gestational age and growth chart documentation, and surgical or pathology records confirming an NEC diagnosis. Product identification is frequently the deciding factor in whether a claim survives pretrial motions.

Abbott's $670M NEC Settlement and the Inman Verdict

Abbott's $670M NEC Settlement, and the Inman Verdict That Followed

Abbott Laboratories announced on August 20, 2026 that it will pay approximately $670 million to resolve the Gill v. Abbott case and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) claims asserted on behalf of roughly 2,000 additional infants. The deal came three days after opening arguments in the first federal NEC bellwether trial, against a different defendant, Mead Johnson, in Chicago. On August 31, that jury returned a unanimous verdict for Mead Johnson.

The settlement closes out the $495 million Missouri jury verdict that a St. Louis jury returned against Abbott in 2024, a judgment the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed in May 2026. According to Abbott's SEC filing, rather than continue appealing or pay roughly $600 million in judgment plus accrued interest, the company chose to settle Gill and the additional NEC claims for an aggregate $670 million.

$670M

Aggregate Abbott settlement resolving the Gill verdict and ~2,000 additional NEC claims (Abbott, Aug. 20, 2026)

~1,700lawsuits

Still pending in federal and state courts after the settlement, covering ~12,700 infants (Abbott)

847cases

Pending in federal MDL 3026 per the JPML's Sept. 1, 2026 report

Two case counts circulate in coverage of this settlement, and they measure different things. The 847 figure counts lawsuits pending in federal MDL 3026 alone, as reported by the JPML on September 1, 2026. Abbott's 1,700 figure is broader: it counts every lawsuit still pending in federal and state courts combined after the settlement, brought on behalf of roughly 12,700 infants.

The Verdict That Forced Abbott's Hand

Abbott's settlement covers only a portion of the litigation and does not include Mead Johnson, which Reckitt Benckiser Group owns. The deal resolves cases brought by three plaintiffs' firms (Chicago's TorHoerman Law, the Holland Law Firm in St. Louis, and Nashville's Stranch, Jennings & Garvey) and explicitly disclaims any admission of liability. Abbott maintains that the FDA, NIH, CDC, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recognize its preterm formula products as safe.

The economics behind the timing are specific: interest on the affirmed Gill judgment alone would have pushed Abbott's exposure on that single case to roughly $600 million. Settling Gill together with the additional 2,000-infant block, rather than litigating each claim individually, gave Abbott a fixed number instead of an open-ended appellate and trial calendar.

Gill was not Abbott's only loss at trial. In April 2026, a Cook County jury awarded four Chicago-area families $53 million in compensatory and $17 million in punitive damages in cases over Similac Special Care, the first NEC trial against Abbott in an Illinois state court. Abbott said it plans to appeal, and its August announcement does not mention that verdict.

Where the Major NEC Rulings Stand, September 2026

Case	Court	Outcome
Gill v. Abbott	Missouri state court	$495M jury verdict (2024); affirmed on appeal May 2026; now settled as part of the $670M aggregate
Four consolidated cases v. Abbott	Cook County, Ill.	$70M jury verdict (April 2026); Abbott plans to appeal
Watson v. Mead Johnson	Illinois state court	$60M jury verdict (March 2024); reversed and remanded for retrial June 2026
Whitfield v. Abbott and Mead Johnson	Missouri state court	Defense verdict (2024); new trial ordered, affirmed on appeal Aug. 11, 2026
Collins v. Mead Johnson	Missouri state court	Defense verdict, July 2, 2026
Three federal bellwethers	N.D. Ill. MDL 3026	Summary judgment for Abbott; first ruling upheld by the Seventh Circuit, July 2026
Inman v. Mead Johnson	N.D. Ill. MDL 3026	Unanimous defense verdict, Aug. 31, 2026; first federal bellwether to reach a jury

Mead Johnson's defense wins in Collins and Whitfield came in St. Louis. A jury sided with Mead Johnson in Collins on July 2, 2026, less than three weeks after the Watson reversal. Whitfield is not finished: the 2024 defense verdict was set aside, and a Missouri appeals court affirmed the new trial order on August 11, 2026, agreeing that the verdict was not supported by the evidence.

Inman: How the First Federal Bellwether Ended

Jury selection in Inman v. Mead Johnson & Co., Case No. 1:22-cv-03737, began August 13 before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, and opening arguments followed on August 17. Plaintiff Alexis Inman alleged that Mead Johnson's Enfamil Premature formula caused the NEC that killed her son, Daniel Windley, and that Mead Johnson failed to warn his medical providers of the risk.

Important

A Preemption Argument the MDL Hadn't Seen Before

Days before trial, Mead Johnson argued that the federal Infant Formula Act preempts Inman's design-defect claim, citing the Supreme Court's June 2026 ruling in Monsanto v. Durnell. Judge Pallmeyer rejected the motion, noting the Infant Formula Act lacks the express preemption clause found in FIFRA, the pesticide statute at issue in Durnell, and declined to dismiss the claim on the eve of trial.

The design claim went to the jury, and it lost there. After a two-week trial, jurors deliberated for about five hours and rejected both the design defect and failure-to-warn claims. In its statement on the verdict, Mead Johnson said it now has no outstanding jury verdicts anywhere in the NEC litigation and that it will "continue to vigorously defend ourselves against all such claims."

Inman was the first selected bellwether in MDL 3026 to reach a jury. Judge Pallmeyer had granted summary judgment to Abbott in three earlier test cases, and the Seventh Circuit upheld the first of those rulings in July 2026. The verdict does not bind the 847 other cases pending in the federal MDL, but it is the first federal jury's answer on causation evidence that has produced split results in state courts. The next federal trial, Kelton v. Abbott, is a Similac case set for October 15, 2026.

The Records That Decide These Cases

Whether a claim reaches a jury or gets dismissed on summary judgment consistently comes down to documentation. NEC litigation runs on a specific evidence chain, and gaps anywhere in it are what defense motions target first.

Birth & NICU Admission

Gestational age, birth weight, and admission records establish the prematurity window that makes an infant vulnerable to NEC

Feeding Logs

Nursing flow sheets and formulary orders must name the exact product (e.g., Similac Special Care vs. Enfamil Premature) and volume administered

Diagnosis & Imaging

Abdominal X-rays and clinical notes documenting the onset and staging of necrotizing enterocolitis

Surgical & Pathology

Operative reports for bowel resection or ostomy placement, plus pathology on resected tissue

Growth Charts & Follow-Up

Post-NEC growth trajectories and pediatric gastroenterology records supporting long-term damages

Premature infants are frequently transferred between a birth hospital, a tertiary Level IV NICU, and later outpatient pediatric specialists, which means a single claimant's file can span three or more institutions before discharge. LlamaLab retrieves these records in 4 days on average, with roughly 30-40% returned same-day on portal and electronic requests, and its reverse provider search uses insurance data to surface treatment locations families don't always remember. Each file comes with an itemized per-case invoice that flows through as a recoverable case disbursement on settlement statements. Firms comparing vendors for an NEC docket can weigh medical record retrieval services for law firms on turnaround, provider discovery, and recoverable pricing.

What Firms Should Do Now

Key Points

Essential takeaways from this article

Audit any pending Abbott-named claims to determine whether they fall inside the ~2,000-infant settlement block or remain among the ~1,700 unresolved suits.

Re-value Mead Johnson files after Inman. The first federal jury rejected both design defect and failure-to-warn theories, and Mead Johnson has announced no settlement.

Confirm product identification early. Federal summary judgments have turned on case-specific feeding facts that complete feeding logs and formulary records can document.

Watch Kelton v. Abbott, set for October 15, 2026. It is the next federal bellwether and the first Similac case in the MDL scheduled to reach a jury.

The Bottom Line

Abbott paid to take its largest verdict off the docket, and eleven days later Mead Johnson won the first federal jury trial outright. The two manufacturers are now on different paths: Abbott still faces the $70 million Cook County award and an October federal trial, while Mead Johnson has no standing verdict against it and faces a Whitfield retrial.

For firms with pending claims against either manufacturer, the immediate task hasn't changed. Complete NICU, feeding, and pathology files are what separated the plaintiffs who won at trial from the ones dismissed on summary judgment.

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Sources: Abbott press release, Aug. 20, 2026, Abbott 8-K filing (SEC EDGAR), Reckitt (Inman verdict, Aug. 31, 2026), Top Class Actions (Inman deliberations), JPML pending MDL report (Sept. 1, 2026), Chicago Tribune (Cook County verdict), Law.com (Collins verdict), Law360 (Whitfield retrial affirmed), Law.com (settlement), Law.com (preemption ruling), Med Legal Pro. Case data current as of September 29, 2026. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice.