Defendant entity record

Abbott Laboratories

Healthcare and nutrition company; defendant (with Mead Johnson) in the preterm infant formula / NEC litigation — MDL-3026 before Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, 810 cases pending.

Ticker ABT (NYSE)CIK 0000001800Facts verified Jul 19, 2026

The record

Key facts

Fact 01

810 — pending federal cases per the JPML report of July 1, 2026

Source: https://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/

Fact 02

MDL-3026 — N.D. Ill., Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer

Source: https://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/

The entity

Record

The NEC litigation alleges that cow's-milk-based formulas fed to premature infants raised the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, and that manufacturers failed to warn parents and clinicians. Federal cases are consolidated as MDL-3026 (N.D. Ill., Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer), with significant parallel activity in state courts.

As of July 1, 2026 the federal docket held 810 pending cases. State-court juries have returned substantial verdicts in individual trials while defense wins have also occurred — a genuinely contested litigation whose scientific and regulatory record (including FDA and NIH attention to preterm nutrition) continues developing.

Claims remain allegations until adjudicated; nothing here implies feeding decisions were wrong — these are failure-to-warn claims about information parents and clinicians received.

Public-record events

Timeline

Date	Event	Record
Jul 1, 2026	Other	Federal docket at 810 pending cases; state-court trials proceed in parallel. ↗
Apr 8, 2022	Other	JPML centralizes preterm infant nutrition claims as MDL-3026. ↗

Related litigation

Cases

NEC Baby Formula (Similac/Enfamil)Necrotizing Enterocolitis is one of the most catastrophic diseases affecting premature infants in the United States, striking approximately 12% of very-low-birthweight babies and carrying a mortality rate of 20-30%. Medical research spanning more than two decades has consistently linked cow's milk-based premature infant formula — particularly Similac Special Care (Abbott Laboratories) and Enfamil Premature (Mead Johnson/Reckitt) — to dramatically elevated NEC risk in preterm infants. Studies show that premature infants fed cow's milk-based formula are three to ten times more likely to develop NEC than those fed human breast milk or pasteurized donor breast milk. Despite this well-established scientific evidence and the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Abbott and Mead Johnson continued to aggressively market their formula products to NICUs for use in the most vulnerable patient population in medicine. Thousands of families across the country have filed suit against these manufacturers, and the cases are now consolidated in Multi-District Litigation (MDL 3026) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, before the Honorable Rebecca R. Pallmeyer. Families who lost a baby to NEC or whose infant survived with lasting harm deserve answers, accountability, and financial compensation for their loss.CASE FILE

Sources & attribution

Sources cited

JPML pending-dockets report, July 2026