Firm News
CVN Ranks Tucker Ellis Infant Formula Trial as #1 Most Impressive Defense Verdict of 2024
January 31, 2025

Firm News
CVN Ranks Tucker Ellis Infant Formula Trial as #1 Most Impressive Defense Verdict of 2024
January 31, 2025
Courtroom View Network (CVN) has recognized a Tucker Ellis infant formula trial as #1 in “CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Defense Verdicts of 2024.” Tucker Ellis was part of a team that secured a unanimous defense verdict for client Mead Johnson in Whitfield v. St. Louis Children’s Hospital et al. on October 31. Plaintiff alleged that premature infant formulas manufactured by Mead Johnson and co-defendant Abbott caused him to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a serious gastrointestinal condition. Defense counsel obtained the verdict after plaintiff’s counsel requested more than $6.27 billion in compensatory and punitive damages against Mead Johnson and Abbott.
CVN reports, “Following a five-week trial a St. Louis jury delivered a defense verdict for both companies, essentially resetting the board for the NEC trial landscape leading up to the first federal bellwether trial in May. It’s the type of win that has major industry-wide implications and drew scrutiny from attorneys and analysts throughout the United States, and it’s the clear pick for the most impressive defense verdict CVN covered in 2024.”
Sherry Knutson and Charissa Walker represented Mead Johnson with assistance from James Mizgala, Madeline Dennis, Brenda Sweet, Kelly Baldini, and Brooke Pauley. Covington & Burling LLP served as lead trial counsel for Mead Johnson.
Read more about the case on the CVN website here.