This database tracks legal decisions in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content – typically fake citations, but also other types of AI-generated arguments. . . . While seeking to be exhaustive (972 cases identified so far), it is
JAMES M. BECK is Reed Smith's only Senior Life Sciences Policy Analyst, resident in the firm's Philadelphia office. He is the author of, among other things, Drug and Medical Device Product Liability Handbook (2004) (with Anthony Vale). He wrote the seminal law review article on off-label use cited by the Supreme Court in Buckman v. Plaintiffs Legal Committee. He has written more amicus briefs for the Product Liability Advisory Council than anyone else in the history of the organization, and in 2011 won PLAC's highest honor, the John P. Raleigh award. He has been a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) since 2005. He is the long-time editor of the newsletter of the ABA's Mass Torts Committee. He is vice chair of the Class Actions and Multi-Plaintiff Litigation SLG of DRI's Drug and Device Committee. He can be reached at jmbeck@reedsmith.com. His LinkedIn page is here.
Shameless Plug – Reed Smith’s 12th Annual Virtual Health Care Week
To all in-house counsel working in the pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, and digital health industries: if you can use a few CLE hours, we invite you to attend Reed Smith’s annual Virtual Health Care Week, taking place from March 16 through March 19, 2026.
This four-day all-remote event will explore recent developments, challenges, and opportunities…
A Big Idea from Big Sky Country
…[T]he common law of public nuisance is an inapt vehicle for addressing the conduct at issue. Mass harms caused by
Update on the New 4th Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence
Last month we were one of the first on the web with a review of the new Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition. Since it was nearly 1700 pages long – literally longer than “War & Peace” – we did only the most cursory of analyses, describing differences in topics and authors…
Bexis’ Product Liability Treatise – Free to a Good Home
Since the beginning of the Blog, we have shilled for only one product: Bexis’ “Drug and Medical Device Product Liability Deskbook” (published by Law.com and updated twice annually). While Bexis is continuing the blog in 2026 (after he turned 70), he is not continuing to update this treatise. Frankly, it’s a lot of…
Just What We Need − Another Pro-Plaintiff Law Review Article
Not too long ago one of our bloggers (McConnell) critiqued a p-side law review article he had received from a lawyer on the other side with whom he was friendly. Bexis isn’t as friendly with opposing counsel – Paul Rheingold being a rare exception. But probably due to his activity in the American Law Institute…
Discovery of Artificial Intelligence Prompts
At the recent ACI Drug and Medical Device annual conference, Bexis created something of a stir by broaching the subject of litigation discovery into the “prompts” that are typically used to create output from generative artificial intelligence. A fair number of the attendees apparently had not considered that possibility. Well, it’s already being done, and…
Shady Grove Gets Shadier
We’ve only discussed Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co., 559 U.S. 393 (2010), a couple of times. Shady Grove, displaced – in federal court – a variety of state-law limitations on class actions because those restrictions were at odds with Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, and in federal…
Mallory in the States – Now Two-Plus Years Post-Deluge
It’s now been about two-and-a-half years since the Supreme Court sided with forum-shopping plaintiffs in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 600 U.S. 122 (2023). Mallory was, in places 5-4, and elsewhere 4-1-4, and everywhere extremely fact specific – to the point of including a defendant-specific image of its Pennsylvania contacts. 600 U.S. at…
Introducing the New Reference Manual for Scientific Evidence
Since it was published in 2011, the third edition of the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual for Scientific Evidence has been the go-to guide for federal judges seeking to sort out scientific testimony, and a major source of non-precedential authority for both sides when arguing motions under Fed. R. Evid. 702. 2011, however, was fifteen…