James D. Gotz

Associate

Wrongful Death, Products Liability, Pharmaceutical Mass Torts, Medical Negligence

In October 2006, James Gotz joined Kreindler & Kreindler as an attorney in the firm's newly-created Boston office, leaving his position as a partner in a large regional New England law firm.

Since 1994, James has represented catastrophically injured victims of complex torts, from medical negligence to defective pharmaceutical products and other personal injury areas.

Beginning in 1998, James focused his practice on the prosecution of individual complex pharmaceutical product liability cases. With his previous firm, he prosecuted and tried the first-in-the-nation fen/phen diet drug wrongful death case, which resulted in the largest settlement of its kind in Massachusetts state history; thereafter he participated in the prosecution of dozens of similar fen/phen wrongful death lawsuits, each of which settled for multi-million dollar amounts. In addition, James participated in the MDL leadership overseeing the discovery for all Federal Court diet drug cases.

Beginning in 2001, while at his previous firm, James led in the prosecution of dozens of serious stroke injury cases resulting from ingestion of over-the-counter cough/cold medications containing the active ingredient PPA, which the FDA caused to be removed from the marketplace. In addition to overseeing development, trial preparation and eventual settlement of his own firm's cases, he was central to the development of the liability and scientific evidence for all Federal Court PPA cases as a member of the PPA MDL Discovery and Science Committees, including presentation of experts in Daubert hearings which led to the Court's decision allowing at trials the scientific evidence proving PPA's role in causing strokes in children. James also led the introduction of new cutting-edge technology to the national pharmaceutical plaintiff's bar for the development and prosecution of complex tort cases.

James has tried to verdict more than a dozen jury trials in personal injury cases, including medical negligence and product liability matters. He has successfully settled multiple cases in excess of One Million Dollars. In June 2007, James won the largest jury verdict in Massachusetts history for a motor vehicle tort victim, approximately $13 Million.

At Kreindler, James continues to represent victims of medical negligence, defective products including motor vehicles and pharmaceuticals, and other catastrophic injury cases.

James is past chair of ATLA's Section on Toxic, Environmental and Pharmaceutical Torts, past chair of the Boston Bar Association's Tort Committee, Education Chair , member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, and Massachusetts co-Captain for ATLA's National Finance Committee (for which he received the 2006 Wiedemann Wysocki National Finance Council Award). He has lectured across the country to various associations of lawyers and experts on topics related to pharmaceutical product liability, FDA evidence, scientific evidence, and the use of technology in litigation.

James received his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1991, and his J.D. degree, with honors, from Suffolk University Law School in 1994.

Away from Kreindler, James spends his time studying, practicing and teaching yoga.