Education
- University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1993
- Fordham University, B.A., cum laud en cursu honorum, 1988
Judicial Clerkship
- Hon. Alan B. Handler, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, 1993-1994
Admissions
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
John J. Grogan, a founding partner of the firm, specializes in complex litigation in the areas of constitutional law and civil rights, consumer law and antitrust law. John Grogan and Howard Langer founded the firm in 2004. Since that time, John has focused his practice on antitrust, consumer rights and constitutional matters. Most recently, John has focused on litigation using RICO to bring mainstream financial institutions to account for their participation and facilitation of fraudulent schemes victimizing consumers. John, along with other members of the firm, secured a jury verdict against a California based loan servicer. The case, Aliff et. al. v. Vervent, Inc., 20-0697 (S.D. Cal. 2023) is among the very few cases successfully tried to verdict using RICO’s conspiracy provision.
In the antitrust area, John has represented clients in large matters involving the intersection of antitrust law and intellectual property especially in the pharmaceutical context. John served with others in the firm as antitrust counsel for a large generic pharmaceutical manufacturer in a series of high-profile antitrust matters. John is also an active litigator in public interest matters focusing on Constitutional law and civil rights particularly as those areas intersect with problems afflicting the poor, immigrants and persons with AIDS.
Representative Cases
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- Mr. Grogan along with other members of the firm recently secured a jury verdict against a California-based loan servicer in a case based on RICO’s conspiracy provision. This is one of the very few such cases tried to verdict. The trial, which lasted three weeks, was conducted in the Southern District of California in June 2023. See Aliff et. al. v. Vervent, Inc., 20-0697 (S.D. Cal. 2023).
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Mr. Grogan, along with other members of the firm, is currently litigating against the 38th Judicial District in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in a case aimed at halting that Court’s systemic practice of illegally overcharging criminal defendants in violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Pennsylvania Constitution and Pennsylvania law. This case, which has been certified as a class action, is currently pending in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.” See Mc Falls, et. al. v. 38th Judicial District, et. al. No. 4 M.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct.).
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Mr. Grogan, in conjunction with the AIDS Law Project of Philadelphia, is currently litigating two cases seeking to remedy privacy violations. The first, involves privacy violations occurring in the Delaware County prison and is brought against prison officials and a third-party, private contractor. See Doe v. Delaware County, et. al. 5:22-cv-01405. The second, recently settled, involved the disclosure of confidential medical information by a pharmaceutical company. See Alabama Doe, et. al. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc. 20-CIV-03699 (Sp. Ct. Cal. San Mateo).
- Mr. Grogan and Mr. Ackelsberg are currently litigating three cases involving other instances of payday lending abuse involving the attempted exploitation of Native American sovereign immunity. See Haremza v. Aaniiih Nakoda Finance, LLC, et al., 22-0043 (D.N.J. 2022); Dearry v. Soaren Management, LLC, et al., 21-2548 (E.D. Pa. 2021); Dearry v. Follis, et al., 22-1414 (E.D. Pa. 2022).
- Mr. Grogan, along with Mr. Ackelsberg, represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in an action to combat illegal payday lending using in part RICO-based theories. See Commonwealth v. Think Finance, Inc., 2016 WL 183289 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 14, 2016). In related work, Mr. Grogan, again with Mr. Ackelsberg, successfully lodged objections to a consumer settlement in a payday lending matter in Virginia the result of which was a substantial enhancement of the amount of debt released in that settlement. Solomon, et al. v. American Web Loan, Inc., et al., 17-0145 (2021).
- In 2015, Mr. Grogan and his colleagues, achieved a significant victory in the Court of Appeals extending the law of class certification in RICO actions against financial institutions alleged to have participated in conspiracies to aid mass marketing consumer fraud. See Reyes v. Netdeposit, 802 F.3d 469 (3rd Cir. 2015).
- Mr. Grogan, along with other members of the firm, has been active in consumer rights litigation and was counsel in Faloney v. Wachovia Bank, NA (E.D. Pa. 2008). That case alleged RICO violations where Wachovia conspired with fraudulent telemarketers to defraud hundreds of thousands of consumers. The Wachovia case settled in 2008 and yielded one of the largest class recoveries in consumer litigation in the Third Circuit.
- Mr. Grogan has litigated several high-profile antitrust matters arising in the pharmaceutical industry. See Sanofi-Synthelabo v. Apotex Inc. 488 F. Supp. 2d 317 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) and Chemi, SpA v. GlaxoSmithKline, Inc., 385 F.Supp. 2d 514 (E.D. Pa. 2005).
Awards/Memberships
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- In 1994, Mr. Grogan was named Echoing Green Fellow which aided in Funding the Camden Law Center.
- In 1997, Mr. Grogan was named the young attorney with the most outstanding contribution to the public interest by the New Jersey State Bar Association. In 2000, the Catholic Diocese of Camden awarded Mr. Grogan the St. Thomas More Medal for service to the poor of Camden. In May of 2001, Mr. Grogan was awarded the University of Pennsylvania Law School Alumni Society’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. In August 2001, Mr. Grogan was named a fellow of the Salzburg Seminar on Human Rights in Salzburg, Austria. In 2002, Mr. Grogan was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice.
- In 2006, Mr. Grogan, along with his colleagues Howard Langer and Edward Diver, was awarded the Champions of Justice Award by Community Legal Services, Inc. of Philadelphia. In September 2007, Mr. Grogan, along with Mr. Diver, was honored by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Philadelphia for their work in litigating on behalf of the civil rights of undocumented immigrants. In March 2008, Mr. Grogan was elected to the American Law Institute. In November 2011, Mr. Grogan and his colleagues were honored by the Jewish Social Policy Advocacy Network. In 2017, Mr. Grogan was honored for his advocacy on behalf of immigrants by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Philadelphia. Mr. Grogan has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer annually since 2006.
- American Law Institute Elected Member 2008-Present
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyer – 2006-2023
- Jewish Social Policy Advocacy Network, Social Justice Award – 2011
- HIAS & Council Migration Services of Philadelphia, Pro Bono Award – 2007
- Community Legal Service of Philadelphia, Champion of Justice Award – 2006
- University of Pennsylvania Law Alumni Society, Young Alumnus Award – 2001
- Salzburg Seminar on International Human Rights, Salzburg Austria Fellow – 2001
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, St. Thomas More Award for Public Service – 2000
- New Jersey State Bar Association, Young Lawyer’s Award – 1997
Public Interest
In 2007, Mr. Grogan and Mr. Diver, along with attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, obtained a landmark precedent establishing an undocumented alien’s fundamental right to marry in a case brought in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. See Buck v. Stankovic, 485 F.Supp.2d 576 (M.D. Pa. 2007).
Mr. Grogan, along with Mr. Ackelsberg, challenged the constitutionality of the City of Philadelphia’s regime for placing liens on landlord properties for their tenants’ unpaid gas bills. See Augustine et. al. v. City of Philadelphia, 171 F. Supp.3d 404 (E.D. Pa. 2016).
In addition, in conjunction with the ACLU and a team of other lawyers, Mr. Grogan and Mr. Leckman represented the plaintiffs in a case establishing in the Third Circuit a citizen’s clear First Amendment right to photograph police activity. See Fields v. City of Philadelphia, 862 F.3d 353 (3d Cir. 2017). Mr. Grogan was also part of the team that fought the Trump Administration’s efforts to impose the so-called “Muslim Ban” on air travel in 2016. Currently, Mr. Grogan, along with the ACLU, is challenging the constitutionality of Montgomery County’s courts’ practices of imposing duplicative costs in certain criminal cases. McFalls v. 38th Judicial District, et. al., 4 M.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2021).
Also with the ACLU, Mr. Grogan successfully litigated under the Freedom of Information Act to ascertain the details Immigration Customs Enforcement raids apprehending Philadelphia area immigrants. ACLU v. U.S. Immigration Customers Enforcement, 20-2363 (E.D. Pa. 2021).
In conjunction with Justice at Work, Inc., Mr. Grogan litigated labor abuse claims against a local landscaping company. Castillo-Chaidez v. Hemphill, et. al., 18-1837 (E.D. Pa. 2021).
Prior to joining Langer & Grogan, P.C., Mr. Grogan co-founded and served as the director of the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice, Inc. The Center is a private, non-profit, public interest law firm serving the working poor of Southern New Jersey. Today, the Center employs ten full-time staff and maintains three offices.
More About John Grogan
Mr. Grogan was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 1983, he graduated from the La Salle College High School in Philadelphia. Mr. Grogan received his Bachelor of Arts in history cum laude en cursu honorum from Fordham University in 1988. In 1993, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School magna cum laude. At the Law School, he was the Kramer Public Interest Scholar and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Immediately following law school, Mr. Grogan served as a law clerk to the Hon. Alan B. Handler, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court for the 1993-1994 Court term.
Mr. Grogan is married to Mia Grogan. They have three adult children, Jack, Isobel and Catherine, and live in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.