Mark J. Beutler
Associate
Duane Morris LLP
200 South Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 3400
Miami, FL 33131-2318
USA
Phone: +1 305 960 2320
Fax: +1 305 397 1654
Email: mjbeutler@duanemorris.com

Mark J. Beutler focuses his practice on representing clients in labor disputes, discrimination and wage-and-hour litigation as well as in commercial litigation.

Previously, Mr. Beutler was a staff attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, where he represented employees in class actions and other civil actions involving civil rights, employment, labor, and personal-injury lawsuits against labor unions and employers at trial and appellate level in federal and state courts and before the National Labor Relations Board and state labor boards. He is a certified public accountant.

Mr. Beutler earned an LL.M. in 1995 from Columbia University School of Law and a J.D. in 1991, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was editor of the Seton Hall University Law Review. He received his M.B.A. in 1986 from the Florida Institute of Technology and his B.S. in 1982 in Accounting/Business Administration from the University of North Carolina.

Areas of Practice

• Employment and Labor Law
• Commercial Litigation

Representative Matters

• Represented an airport service provider in a collective action in which plaintiffs asserted that defendants violated federal and state wage-hour laws as well as various other state laws. The court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' federal claims and dismissed plaintiffs' state-law claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. Pellon v. Business Representation International, Inc., 528 F. Supp. 2d 1306 (S.D. Fla. 2007), aff'd, 291 Fed.Appx. 310 (11th Cir. 2008).
• Represented an airport-services provider in action in which the plaintiff asserted that the defendant had fired him in retaliation for having previously filed a Fair Labor Standards Act claim. The district court granted defendant's motion to dismiss and for sanctions. Gonzalez v. Business Representation International, Inc., 248 F.R.D. 644 (S.D. Fla. 2008).
• Represented plaintiffs in First Amendment challenge to labor contract provision prohibiting nonunion bargaining unit members from obtaining union-administered dental/vision group insurance available under public employer's benefits plan. Court ruled on summary judgment that discrimination in terms and conditions of employment against nonunion public-sector employees violates the U.S. Constitution and awarded attorneys' fees. Brannian v. City of San Diego, 364 F.Supp.2d 1187 (S.D. Cal. 2005).
• Represented aviation support service provider before National Mediation Board in successful effort to defeat election petition seeking to unionize approximately 1600 airport passenger service workers. In re Business Representation International, Inc., 35 NMB 197 (2008).
• Represented workers in five strike-violence cases arising from UAW local union's strike against automobile brake manufacturing plant in Winchester, Virginia. Five plaintiffs sued 11 defendants in varying combinations alleging civil conspiracy to commit various torts incident to a strike at Winchester, Va. plant; cases settled for undisclosed sums. Haines v. United Auto Workers Local 149, 2000 WL 1100034 (Va. Cir. 2000).
• Represented pharmaceutical company in action against competitor for tortious interference with the confidential disclosure agreements with company's former sales representatives.
• Represented national accounting firm in lawsuit by former director alleging wrongful termination under Florida Whistleblower Statute, breach of operating agreement and tortious inference with business relationships.
• Represented software salesman in AAA arbitration over contract dispute regarding payment of sales commissions.
• Represented UPS driver in strike-violence case against International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a local union and nine union agents alleging civil conspiracy, assault and battery, state RICO violations and other torts.
• Represented hospital in class and collective action in which nurses alleged breach of contract and overtime violations arising from alleged uncompensated off-the-clock work.

Admissions

• Florida
• District of Columbia
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan

Education

• Columbia University School of Law, LL.M., 1995
• Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1991
  - Editor, Seton Hall University Law Review
• Florida Institute of Technology, M.B.A., 1986
• University of North Carolina, B.S., 1982

Experience

• Duane Morris LLP
  - Associate, 2010-present
• Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
  - Associate, 2006-2010
• National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
  - Staff Attorney, 1997-2006
• Roberts & Associates, P.C.
  - Associate, 1996-1997
• The Rutherford Institute
  - Staff Attorney, Western Regional Supervisor, 1994-1996
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  - Associate, 1991-1993
• Price Waterhouse
  - Certified Public Accountant, 1986-1988
• Edwards Berger, et al.
  - Certified Public Accountant, 1983-1986

Honors and Awards

• Finalist in the Daily Business Review's survey of South Florida's Most Effective Labor and Employment Lawyers, 2008

Selected Publications

• "Supreme Court Affirms Class Action Waiver Even Where Litigation of Separate Claims Economically Infeasible," Duane Morris Alert, June 24, 2013
• Co-author, "U.S. Supreme Court Endorses Employer Efforts to 'Pick Off' Named Plaintiff in FLSA Collective Action, but Declines to Resolve Circuit Split Regarding Mootness Issue, Duane Morris Alert, April 22, 2013
• "Understanding the FLSA's Tip Credit and Tip Pooling Rules," Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act, Vol. 16 (September 2008)
• "Public Funding of Sectarian Education: Establishment and Free Exercise Clause Implications," 2 Geo. Mason Indep. Law Rev. 7 (1993)