James J. McEldrew III

Jim has been an attorney in Philadelphia for over 35 years. He has dedicated his life to advocate for victims of medical malpractice, railroad accidents, corporate greed, and nursing home abuse.

Since 1982, Jim has been actively involved, not only as a nationally renowned trial attorney, but as a community leader and a representative of several trial lawyer organizations at the national and state level.

Jim was appointed in 1995 as the national counsel for the Transport Workers Union (TWU) designated attorneys for the FELA program. He is also designated counsel for the railroad division for the International Brothers of Electrical Workers (IBEW). As a trial attorney and friend of labor, Jim has been involved in many railroad and labor arbitrations, contract disputes and negotiations, and has made safety on the railroad a major priority. He is a nationally renowned railroad expert, having appeared on television and radio to discuss train accidents.

Jim’s integrity, hard work and dedication have led his peers to elect him as President of the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys from 1995-1996, President of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association in 2005-2006, and a member of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Board of Directors from 2005-2007. Jim been recognized by the Support Center of Child Advocates and Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP).

He has countless victories in a wide variety of areas in law. A small sampling of Jim’s successes include a verdict of $13.3 million for twins who were born premature at 26 weeks with chorioamnionitis, a $7 million settlement for a 46-year-old man who suffered aortic artery damage during a spinal surgery, a $4.5 million for a railroad conductor who suffered electrical shock, a $4.25 million settlement was obtained for a college freshman who fell from a climbing wall during a student orientation activity, and a $1.9 million verdict in an FELA case for a 61-year-old injured car repair man who slipped and fell on snow and ice while reporting to work.

Another noteworthy case involved a police officer in Bucks County who lost his leg when a drunk driver trapped him against his police vehicle. During the litigation, Jim pursued cases against the plaintiffs uninsured motorists (UIM) carrier, the tortfeasor policy, and a dram shop case against the bar that served the individual who hit the police officer. In addition, he brought cases against the employers’ insurance carriers’ agent for fraud for trying to change the forms on the UIM coverage. A verdict and a settlement of $1 million against the employers’ insurance agent was also obtained. When the dust settled, Jim obtained nearly $7 million from eight different entities in litigation that spanned over a course 8 years.

Jim was also recently co-counsel on a qui tam case against Valeant Pharmaceuticals alleging numerous off-label marketing violations and kickback schemes that settled for $54 million.

He is AV Rated with Martindale Hubbell — the highest possible rating. Jim has a 10 out of 10 rating with AVVO. He has also been named a Super Lawyer since its inception in 2001 and has been named a national Top 500 Trial Lawyer with Lawdragon 500.

A Philadelphia resident, Jim has been married for 33 years and has four children: Caitlin, Kelly, Jim, and Michael. In his spare time, Jim enjoys fishing, scuba diving, karate, jiu jitsu, and boxing.