According to the lawsuit filed by Rivera, B.M. was diagnosed with autism and ADHD by the age of 2, after having eaten defendants’ baby food products, which were contaminated with heavy metals.
“Based on prevailing scientific evidence, exposure to the Toxic Heavy Metals at the levels contained in Defendants’ Baby Foods can cause brain injury which can manifest as the neurodevelopmental disorders ASD and ADHD and related sequelae in humans,” Rivera’s lawsuit states. “Had any Defendant warned Plaintiff’s parents that Defendants’ Baby Foods could lead to exposure to Toxic Heavy Metals or, in turn, brain injury, Plaintiff would not have consumed the Baby Foods.”
The lawsuit indicates the heavy metals in baby food make the products defective, and should not be present. It points out that if the metals were not supposed to be there, then the products were defectively manufactured, and if the companies intended to sell baby food with heavy metals, then the products were defectively designed.
“Whether the Defendants’ products were defective due to inadequate warnings, manufacturing errors, or by design, the existing publicly available evidence indicates that consumption of Defendants’ baby food products exposed Plaintiff to Toxic Heavy Metals, and that Defendants’ baby food products contributed to Plaintiff’s Toxic Heavy Metal burden during a critical period of infant neurodevelopment,” the lawsuit notes. “Plaintiff, thus, alleges that this cumulative exposure from Defendants’ products to Toxic Heavy Metals, substantially contributed to causing neurodevelopmental harm that manifested as ASD and ADHD.”
Rivera presents claims of failure to warn, manufacturing defect, design defect, negligent failure to warn, negligence – manufacturing, negligence – product design, general negligence, and seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.
Toxic Baby Food Lawsuits
Rivera’s complaint will be centralized with similar claims as part of a toxic baby food lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL), which was established in April 2024, consolidating the claims before U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in the Northern District of California for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.
As part of the coordinated management of the growing litigation, Judge Corley has indicated that the court will first evaluate the strength of evidence linking toxic baby food to autism, ADHD and other developmental injuries.
After general causation issues are resolved, if the Court determines that plaintiffs have sufficient evidence establishing that toxic metals in the baby food can cause the injuries claimed, it is expected that Judge Corley will schedule a series of “bellwether” trials in the MDL, to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims.
In addition to the federal litigation, there are also a number of toxic baby food lawsuits pending in California state court, where it is expected that the first trial may begin sometime in late 2025, to help gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.
While the outcome of those trials will not have any binding impact on other claims, they will be closely watched, as the average jury payouts awarded may influence how much the manufacturers need to pay in autism or ADHD settlements to resolve the litigation.