NEC Settlement Calculator 2026: Estimate Potential Claim Value
Use the NEC Settlement Calculator to organise NICU feeding records, product identification, necrotising enterocolitis diagnosis, surgery, outcome and the evidence that affects a preterm infant formula claim.
- Organises NICU feeding records and which product was administered, and when.
- Captures the NEC diagnosis, its stage, and any surgical intervention.
- Helps identify missing feeding logs, operative notes and birth records.
- Separates Abbott’s disclosed total from any per-infant figure, which does not exist.
Get Your NEC Claim Estimate
Answer the guided questions using the most accurate NICU feeding, diagnosis, surgical and outcome information available.
Is the calculator estimate what my family would receive?
No. It is a gross figure. Attorney fees, case expenses and lien repayment all come out first, and where the claimant is a surviving child a court generally has to approve the settlement.
Why might money be held until my child turns eighteen?
Where a settlement involves a minor, courts commonly direct that some or all of the net proceeds be placed in a structured settlement, annuity or restricted account. It protects the child, and it means funds may not be immediately available.
How the NEC Settlement Calculator Works
The calculator organises the facts most likely to matter in an initial claim review. It does not apply a universal multiplier and cannot replace the NICU record, a diagnosis or attorney analysis.
1. Identify the Product
Enter which formula or human-milk fortifier was administered — Similac, Enfamil or a hospital-supplied product — and on which days.
2. Enter Gestational Details
Birth weight and gestational age. Prematurity is central to both eligibility and causation in every NEC claim.
3. Describe the Diagnosis
NEC stage, surgical intervention, bowel resection or ostomy, and what followed.
4. Add Outcome and Loss
Short bowel syndrome, feeding difficulties, developmental effects, ongoing care or death, alongside medical bills and future care costs.
Factors That Can Affect NEC Settlement Value
NEC claim value is shaped by product identification, the severity of the outcome, and above all by which court the claim sits in.
Product identification
Whether the NICU feeding record names a specific cow’s-milk-based product is the threshold question in every claim.
Forum
Abbott has won the first three federal bellwethers on summary judgment while state juries have returned very large verdicts. Where a claim sits matters enormously.
Severity of NEC
Medical management, bowel resection, ostomy and short bowel syndrome are treated very differently.
Long-term outcome
Ongoing feeding difficulties, developmental effects, permanent impairment or death.
Gestational age and weight
Extreme prematurity strengthens eligibility but is also the defence’s primary alternative explanation.
Economic loss
NICU costs, surgical care, ongoing treatment and projected lifetime care needs.
Evidence That Can Support a NEC Claim
NEC claims are proved or lost on the NICU feeding record. It is also the document families are least likely to already hold, because it does not usually appear in a discharge summary.
NICU Feeding Records
The nursing and feeding flowsheets showing which product was given, on which days, and in what volume.
Request the NICU flowsheets specifically, not a general records summary.Product Identification
Similac, Enfamil or a hospital-supplied human-milk fortifier, by brand and product.
Usually derived from the feeding record or hospital pharmacy log.NEC Diagnosis
Radiology and clinical notes confirming necrotising enterocolitis and its stage.
Held by the treating neonatal unit.Surgical Records
Bowel resection, ostomy, later reconstruction and any complications.
Requested from the surgical department.Birth Record
Gestational age and birth weight, both central to eligibility and causation.
Part of the maternal and neonatal admission record.Outcome and Damages
Short bowel syndrome, feeding difficulties, developmental effects, care costs and lost earnings.
Assembled from ongoing providers and family records.Where NEC Litigation Stands in 2026
The NEC record splits cleanly: very large state-court verdicts against both manufacturers, and no federal trial wins at all for plaintiffs.
In the federal MDL the picture is different: Abbott has won the first three bellwethers on summary judgment, meaning those cases were dismissed before reaching a jury. Roughly 825 actions remain pending in MDL 3026 before Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois, with most claims sitting in state court rather than the MDL.
NEC Lawsuit Filing Deadlines
Limitation periods for claims brought on behalf of a minor child differ from ordinary personal injury deadlines, and in many states they are extended — sometimes considerably — until the child reaches majority or for a period afterwards. Wrongful death claims follow a different and usually shorter timetable.
Because the rules vary so much by state and by the nature of the claim, a family who assumed it was too late should have the question answered properly rather than assumed. Abbott’s settlement does not pause deadlines for claims outside it.
Where a settlement involves a surviving child, court approval is generally required and the net proceeds may be placed in a structured settlement or restricted account until the child reaches majority.
NEC Lawsuit, Settlement & Related Claim Resources
Why the Estimate Is Not the Cheque
Any figure this calculator produces, and any figure quoted in a news headline, is a gross number. Several deductions sit between a gross allocation and the money that reaches a claimant, and they are the same in every mass tort.
1. Gross allocation
What the claim is valued at, before anything is taken out.
2. Attorney fees and costs
The contingency fee plus case expenses, set out in the retainer agreement you sign at the start.
3. Liens and reimbursements
Medicaid, CHIP and private insurers are repaid for NICU and follow-up care, which in NEC cases is frequently substantial.
4. Net to claimant
What remains after fees, costs and lien resolution — and what actually arrives.
Lien resolution is usually the step that takes longest. Health insurers, and in many cases Medicare or Medicaid, have a right to be reimbursed out of a settlement for treatment they already paid for. Those amounts can frequently be reduced through a formal resolution process, but the process adds time — often months between an agreed figure and a distributed payment.
None of this is a reason not to bring a claim. It is a reason to read every NEC figure you encounter as a gross number rather than a net one, and to ask about the fee structure and likely lien exposure early rather than late.
NEC Settlement Calculator FAQ
How does the NEC settlement calculator work?
It organises NICU feeding records, product identification, diagnosis, surgery, outcome and damages into an educational estimate. It does not apply a fixed multiplier and does not determine eligibility.
How much is the NEC settlement per infant?
No per-infant figure has been disclosed. Abbott’s approximately $670 million covers both the Missouri Gill case and the claims of roughly 2,000 additional infants, and the split between them is not public.
Has Abbott settled all NEC claims?
No. Approximately 1,700 lawsuits covering claims for around 12,700 infants remain pending across federal and state courts. Whether Abbott extends the settlement to that larger group is the central open question.
Has Mead Johnson settled?
No. Mead Johnson has not settled and won defence verdicts in October 2024 and July 2026, which gives it considerably less pressure to resolve than Abbott faced.
My baby was given a hospital-supplied fortifier, not a tin I bought. Does that count?
Human-milk fortifiers and preterm formulas supplied directly by a hospital are within scope where they are cow’s-milk-based products made by the defendant manufacturers. What matters is what was administered, not who bought it.
Can I still file an NEC claim?
Possibly. Limitation periods for claims on behalf of a minor are often extended, sometimes substantially, and they vary by state. It is worth having the question answered rather than assumed.
Request a Free NEC Case Review
If your premature baby was given a cow’s-milk-based formula or fortifier in the NICU and later developed necrotising enterocolitis, use the calculator to organise the records or request a confidential screening.
Sources and Further Reading
Abbott — Investor Disclosures
The securities filing describing the approximately $670 million settlement announced 20 August 2026 and its scope.
View Abbott investor relationsJPML — Pending MDL Dockets
Official report listing 825 actions pending in MDL 3026 as of 3 August 2026.
View the JPML reportU.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
The court administering MDL 3026 before Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.
View the courtNIH — Necrotising Enterocolitis
Clinical background on NEC in preterm infants, its staging and its risk factors.
View the NIH overviewFDA — Infant Formula
Federal regulatory background on infant formula and preterm nutrition products.
View the FDA page
