HarrisMartin's Philadelphia Mass Tort Conference: Litigation in a Post-Tincher World Speaker Profiles

Brian J. McCormick, Jr., joined Ross Feller Casey in April 2014. He has a national practice that includes pharmaceutical injury and products liability mass tort litigation, as well as representing whistleblowers in qui tam and fraud actions involving the waste of government funds and resources.

Most recently, working with federal lawyers, McCormick helped reach a $6.07 million settlement that resolved allegations that medical device companies EBI, LLC, of New Jersey, and Biomet, Inc., of Indiana, used kickbacks to induce physicians to purchase their bone growth stimulators.

The case, which settled in late October 2014, was prompted by a former company employee who McCormick represented.

McCormick in February 2014 was instrumental in obtaining $750,000 to settle whistleblower allegations of Medicare fraud against a Florida doctor and his pain management clinic. The suit alleged among other things that Dr. Steven Chun and Sarasota Pain Associates submitted claims for procedures and services that were never performed.

McCormick has also represented clients in cases involving the drugs Risperdal, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Avandia, Gadolinium and Levaquin, as well as faulty medical devices. McCormick was co-counsel in two of the recent Risperdal bellwether trials in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas involving young men who developed painful, enlarged breasts after taking the drug. He also has served in leadership roles in several of the litigations involving these drugs.

Most recently, he was appointed to serve on the national Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the Risperdal and Invega Product Liability Cases presently before the Superior Court of California.

Before becoming one of the nation's top mass tort and whistleblower litigators, McCormick was a partner in the Philadelphia office of a large, international law firm. There, he represented Fortune 500 companies in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, including corporate investigations, shareholder and partnership disputes, securities litigation, healthcare matters and Medicare fraud.

A Philadelphia native, McCormick has practiced before trial and appellate judges in both state and federal courts, and has represented numerous clients in alternative dispute resolution forums such as the American Arbitration Association. He has also represented clients in numerous mediations, and recognizes the cost-effectiveness of certain ADR procedures. He has extensive experience with advanced trial technologies that are highly effective with today's jurors.

McCormick, a former reporter himself, is a sought after interview by journalists for stories involving whistleblower issues as well as defective drug and medical device litigation, and he has lectured extensively on those topic across the country.

Appointed by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, McCormick serves as one of five members of the city's Board of Ethics, which investigates and reviews potential ethics and conflict of interest violations, as well as campaign finance violations.

McCormick received his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond and his J.D. with honors from Rutgers University School of Law.

McCormick is admitted to practice before numerous courts around the country, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States Court of Federal Claims and all state and federal courts in New Jersey.

Before attending law school, McCormick served as an analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Philadelphia office where he was responsible for researching, collecting, and distilling information and disseminating it to agents nationwide.

Sean P. Fahey is a partner in the Litigation Department of Pepper Hamilton LLP and a member of the Health Effects Litigation and Health Care Services Practice Groups. He focuses his practice in products liability and health care litigation, with a primary emphasis on the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device entities in multidistrict litigation. Mr. Fahey is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and chair of the Hiring Committee. He also is a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee and a past chair of the Technology Committee.