Forum Defendant Fraudulently Joined to Preterm Infant Formula Case, MDL Judge Rules

CHICAGO — The judge overseeing the MDL docket for preterm infant formula actions against Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson has refused to remand a case to state court, ruling that non-diverse defendant Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Inc. was fraudulently joined.

In a Feb. 25 order, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California explained that the plaintiff’s negligent failure-to-warn claim was time barred under the state’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) when she filed her complaint in July 2024.

Gretchen Sudds’ infant grandson, who was born prematurely on May 24, 2014, at Kaiser …