Baby Food

The Baby Food litigation, centralized before Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in the Northern District of California in April 2024, consolidates claims that heavy metals — including lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury — found in commercial baby food products caused autism spectrum disorder and ADHD in children who consumed them during infancy. With 483 actions pending, this docket experienced a significant setback in March 2026, when the court excluded plaintiffs' expert witnesses on general causation linking heavy-metal exposure in baby food to autism and ADHD — a ruling that materially raises the causation bar for claims proceeding in this docket going forward.

For a funder, a general-causation expert exclusion of this kind is a critical underwriting input, not a reason to walk away automatically: the practical effect on individual claims — dismissal, appeal, or an opportunity to submit new expert evidence — was not confirmed at the time of the ruling, and mass torts have, in other dockets, survived early causation setbacks through appeal or refiled expert submissions. Funding decisions made today should explicitly account for this ruling's uncertainty and price a wider range of outcomes than would be appropriate for a docket without a comparable causation-evidence setback.

Given that uncertainty, claim-level diligence should focus closely on how counsel plans to respond to the exclusion ruling — whether through appeal, new expert designations, or another procedural path — before committing capital to individual claims or a portfolio in this docket. Medical and developmental-diagnosis records remain central to any claim regardless of the causation ruling's ultimate resolution. Criterica Capital's mass tort finance product remains the applicable structure for claims tied to this litigation, and a structural brief on the causation ruling and its aftermath is available through Criterica Intelligence.

Pre-settlement funding is a non-recourse purchase of a portion of the proceeds of a pending legal claim — not a loan. If the case does not result in a recovery, nothing is owed. Rates, fees, and repayment terms are disclosed in full in the funding agreement, which the applicant’s attorney reviews before signing. Availability and terms vary by state.