Appellate Court Affirms Simon Law and Partners’ Motion For Retrial In Baby Formula Case

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Aug. 11, 2026 – The Missouri Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court’s order granting a new trial against the manufacturers of cow’s-milk based baby formula, which has been shown to increase the risk of a deadly intestinal disease in premature babies, finding that a defense verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

Simon Law attorneys Tim Cronin, John G. Simon and Nathan Perlmutter represent an 8-year-old boy who contracted necrotizing enterocolitis or NEC as a preterm infant after being fed formula made by Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson. The disease left him with short bowel syndrome and a multitude of other lifelong health complications.

“The appellate court’s decision preserves the integrity of the judicial system and renews hope for children and families like our clients to be heard fairly as the Courts intended,” said Cronin, lead attorney on the case. “This ruling reinforces one of the most basic tenants of our legal system: jurors should only hear evidence the Courts deem appropriate. And, when that doesn’t happen due to repeated and flagrant disregard for the Court’s orders, and the verdict that follows is not supported by the greater weight of the evidence, retrials are the only way to ensure the sanctity of our judicial system.”

Simon Law attorneys tried the case alongside attorneys from Keller Postman LLC and Cates Law during a five-week trial in 2024. About half-way through trial, Circuit Judge Michael Noble sanctioned Abbott’s lead attorney on the case after repeated violations of the Court’s orders regarding inadmissible evidence and arguments.

It ended in a verdict in favor of the defendants.

In April 2025, Noble granted Simon Law’s motion for a new trial, stating, in part, “The cumulative effect of the errors resulted in not only prejudice and denied plaintiff a fair trial, but also resulted in a manifest injustice which is so egregious that those errors weakened the foundation of the judicial process and seriously undermined the confidence in the outcome of this trial.” The trial court then expressly found “the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and in accordance with Rule 78.02, a new trial is appropriate.”

The defendants then appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District. On Aug. 11, the appellate court issued its opinion affirming Judge Noble’s order for a new trial.

Judge Michael Wright wrote the 17-page opinion and it was affirmed by Presiding Judge John Torbitzky and Judge Virginia Lay.

“This Court acknowledges a high volume of evidence was put forth by both parties during the four-week trial,” according to the opinion. “On appeal, however, Appellants cherry-pick certain evidence from expert witnesses that is favorable to their defense.”

“Appellants’ arguments fail for two reasons. First, simply because the jury rendered a verdict in Appellants’ favor does not mean K.W. failed to make a submissible case…Second, by crafting an argument focused on evidence favorable to the defense, Appellants ignore our standard of review, which this Court is duty-bound to follow. This Court declines the invitation to adopt a new standard of review.”

The appellate court noted Abbott raised 11 points on appeal and Mead raised 13 claiming the trial court erred in ordering a new trial.

“This Court holds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting a new trial on the grounds (sic) the verdict was against the weight of the evidence,” according to the opinion.

Simon Law is a St. Louis-based personal injury and business litigation firm that has secured billions for clients in verdicts and settlements since its founding in 2001 and has been named one of the “winningest firms” in the U.S. by The National Law Journal. In the past two years alone, the firm has won four nine-figure verdicts for its clients, totaling nearly $2 billion.

Media Contact:
Christine Byers
Simon Law Director of Marketing & Communications
cbyers@simonlawpc.com