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Experience and Background
James M. Beck handles complex personal injury and product liability litigation. He has overseen the development of legal defenses, master briefs, and dispositive motions in numerous mass torts, including Seroquel, Vioxx, diet drugs, Baycol, and orthopedic bone screws. Orthopedic Bone Screw ended with summary judgments in more than 170 cases, and prevailing in every appeal.
Professional Activities
Mr. Beck has been an elected member of the American Law Institute since May 2006. He is active in the Members Consultative Groups concerning Principles of Aggregate Litigation and Restatement of the Law Third Economic Torts and Related Wrongs.
Mr. Beck is a member of the Product Liability Advisory Committee (PLAC) and has sat on PLAC's case selection committee since 1997. He has written over 50 amicus curiae briefs on product liability issues for PLAC.
Mr. Beck has also prepared amicus briefs for the American Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Medical Association and several of its state affiliates, the Anti-Defamation League, the Business Roundtable, the Pennsylvania Defense Research Institute, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and the Washington Legal Foundation.
Mr. Beck has been chair of the Publications Subcommittee of the Mass Torts Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association since 2002. He has been named Outstanding Subcommittee Chair three times, in 2003-04, 2006-07, and 2008-09.
Mr. Beck is also a member of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Defense Research Institute, the Society for American Baseball Research, and the American Philatelic Society.
Mr. Bech is admitted to to practice in federal and state courts in Pennsylvania, in the U.S. Supreme Court, and in various federal and state court pro hac vice.
Significant Representations
-- Seroquel litigation, multi-district litigation and in New Jersey, primarily involving preemption, confidentiality issues, and substantive state law issues.
-- Tobacco product liability litigation in Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and elsewhere.
-- Vioxx litigation, primarily in New Jersey.
-- Paxil suicidality litigation, primarily involving federal preemption.
-- Diet Drug (fen-phen) litigation in Pennsylvania State Court, including appeals, post-trial motions, summary judgment motions, and motions in limine.
-- Baycol litigation, primarily focused on punitive damages issues.
-- Post-trial motions and appeals involving a lift truck manufacturer.
-- The largest manufacturer of orthopedic bone screws in complex multi-district litigation, and in hundreds of individual cases following remand.
Education
Princeton University, B.A., cum laude, 1978
The University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1982
Publications and Lectures
A prolific author, Mr. Beck co-authored the "Drug and Medical Device Product Liability Handbook," which was published in the Law Journal Press in 2004 and is updated biannually.
He wrote the seminal article "FDA, Off-Label Use and Informed Consent: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions" for the Food and Drug Law Journal in 1998. The first major law review article on off-label use of prescription medical products, it has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and several other appellate court opinions. His most recent article, "Federal Preemption in FDA-Regulated Product Liability Litigation: Where We Are and Where We Might Be Headed," was published in the Summer 2009 issue of the Hamline Law Review.
Since late 2006, Mr. Beck is co-host of The Drug and Device Law Blog, an AmLaw Top 100 Blawg and the most widely read product liability blog according to Justia Blawg Search. This blog concentrates on legal issues encountered in the defense of prescription drug and medical device product liability litigation, especially preemption. In May 2007, Sheldon Bradshaw, chief counsel of the FDA praised this "excellent" blog at the annual DRI drug and medical device defense conference.
Mr. Beck is also a frequent speaker on product liability issues. Recent publications and lectures include:
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