EAST ST. LOUIS – Chief U.S. Judge Nancy Rosenstengel rejected St. Clair County jurisdiction in a double death suit against Mead Johnson Nutrition on June 15.
She found Mead Johnson Nutrition has headquarters in Indiana, not in Illinois as lawyer David Cates of Swansea argued.
The suit now qualifies for transfer to multi district proceedings before Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer at the Northern District of Illinois.
Cates represents Devon Alexander and LaTonya Alexander of North Carolina.
Their twins Tiffany and Tristan weighed about two pounds at birth in 2020, and neither survived a month.
Cates filed their complaint in St. Clair County in March, in association with Texas lawyers Yvette Diaz and Dave Matthews.
They claimed Mead Johnson infant formula caused necrotizing enterocolitis.
Mead Johnson Nutrition removed the complaint to district court in April, asserting diverse jurisdiction as an Indiana business.
On May 11, Mead Johnson moved to stay the complaint until a panel of judges in Washington decided whether to transfer it to Pallmeyer.
The panel conditionally transferred it on May 13.
On May 20, Cates moved to remand it to St. Clair County.
He claimed Mead Johnson Nutrition identified Illinois as its principal place in a federal court pleading.
He claimed its website listed Illinois as its global headquarters.
On June 13, Mead Johnson Nutrition counsel Anthony Anscombe of Chicago responded that Reckitt Benckiser PLC acquired the business in 2017.
He claimed the owners moved management out by the end of 2018.
He claimed they located manufacturing, quality, sales, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, and consumer resources in Indiana.
He claimed Indiana’s secretary of state provided an office address in Evansville and listed it for president, treasurer, and secretary.
He claimed the owners were updating their corporate filings and website.
Rosenstengel denied remand, finding preponderant evidence that the company’s nerve center was in Evansville.
She found two district judges in Illinois reached a similar conclusion this year.