Verdict includes $17 million in punitive damages for failure to warn of life-threatening NEC risk in premature infants

A Cook County jury has returned a verdict of $70 million including $17 million in punitive damages against Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of the cow’s milk-based infant feeding product Similac. The jury found that Abbott’s product caused four premature infants to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)—a crippling and often fatal intestinal disease.

NEC involves the bacterial invasion of a newborn’s intestinal lining, leading to severe inflammation, tissue necrosis, and potential intestinal perforation. The disease often requires surgery and carries a high mortality rate.

Attorneys at Denver-based Olson Grimsley represent four families whose children suffered devastating and lifelong complications from NEC after being fed Abbott’s product while in the neonatal intensive care unit. They argued that Abbott knew its product greatly increases the risk of NEC for premature infants, yet falsely promoted their products as safe.

“This verdict reveals the truth that Abbott hid from the public: cow’s milk-based baby formula causes NEC in premature infants,” said Olson Grimsley partner Sean Grimsley. “No amount of money can help these families recover from this terrible disease, but today’s verdict provides a measure of justice for families who were kept in the dark."

The Olson Grimsley trial team included partners Kenzo Kawanabe, Sean Grimsley, Abigail Hinchcliff, and Samara Hoose. Beth Costner and Nicole Hollingsworth were also members of the trial team. Olson Grimsley tried the case with Ben Whiting, Amelia Frenkel, Jamie Price, and Laura Shannon from Keller Postman, LLC.

The case is Antonia Mendez, on her own behalf of her minor child Adela Mendez v Abbott Laboratories et al., Cause No. 1:22-cv-00071 in the Cook County Circuit Court.

About Olson Grimsley

Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC is a national law firm headquartered in Denver, with the mission of holding the powerful to account. Before founding the firm, the team of talented litigators handled some of the country’s most significant civil rights, antitrust, mass tort, consumer, intellectual property and environmental cases in courthouses from California to New York, and from rural Arkansas to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are now focusing their expertise on advocating for clients in their most consequential trials and appeals nationwide. More: olsongrimsley.com.

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