Benjamin F. Johns

BENJAMIN F. JOHNS, an associate in the Haverford office, is admitted to practice before the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. His entire practice is devoted to litigation, with an emphasis on antitrust, securities, and consumer fraud class actions. Mr. Johns is a member of the Firm's Case Development Group, and is responsible for identifying and assessing potential new cases.

Mr. Johns has presented oral argument before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation several times. In addition, Mr. Johns has assisted or is assisting in the prosecution of the following actions:

• Kurian v. County of Lancaster, No. 2:07-cv-03482-PD (E.D.Pa.). Mr. Johns was the primary associate working on this civil rights lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of pre-trial detainees who were admitted to the Lancaster County Prison (“LCP”).  The plaintiffs alleged that LCP had an unconstitutional practice or policy of strip searching all new commitments coming into the prison, without regard to whether reasonable suspicion for such a search existed.  The district court has granted preliminary approval to a settlement valued up to $2.5 million. 

• Allison, et al. v. The GEO Group, No. 2:08-cv-467-JD (E.D.Pa.). Mr. Johns was the primary associate working on this civil rights lawsuit against The GEO Group, Inc. (“GEO”), a private entity that contracts with state and local governments to administer correctional facilities. According to the complaint filed by C&T, GEO instituted an unconstitutional practice or policy of strip searching all new commitments to its correctional facilities, without regard to whether reasonable suspicion existed to justify such a search. On March 24, 2009, Judge DuBois issued an opinion and order denying a motion filed by GEO that sought to have the case dismissed.  The district court has granted preliminary approval to a settlement valued up to $2.9 million. 
  

• Hammond v. Bank of New York Mellon Corp., No. 1:08-cv-6060 (RMB) (S.D.N .Y.). Mr. Johns has done substantial work on this case, which involves two massive security breaches at The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (“BNY”). The lawsuit, which is currently pending in the Southern District of New York, seeks class action status on behalf consumers whose Sensitive Personal Information was compromised while entrusted to BNY. Among other things, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking enhanced credit monitoring protection, and for BNY to make curative disclosures related to its allegedly misleading account of what happened in the data breach.

• In re In re Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Litigation, No. 2:04-cv-05184-GEB-PS (D.N.J.). Mr. Johns provided substantial assistance in this antitrust case, which involves allegations of bid rigging and steering against numerous insurance brokers and insurers. The district court has granted final approval to settlements with an insurance broker and with insurers valued at approximately $218 million.

• In re Heartland Payment Systems Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litig., No. H-09-MD-02046 (S.D.Tx.). Mr. Johns is currently working on this case, which is related to a data breach at Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. The lawsuit seeks to represent a putative class of banks, credit unions, and financial institutions that have re-issued debit and credit cards, incurred unreimbursed fraudulent charges, or were otherwise injured as a result of the data breach.  The firm has been appointed interim co-lead counsel. 

• In re Recoton Sec. Litig., 6:03-cv-00734-JA-KRS (M.D.Fla.). Mr. Johns actively participated in this class action alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against former officers and directors of a now-bankrupt company for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements regarding the accounting and management of its inventories. The court in this case approved an all-cash settlement of $3 million.
  

Mr. Johns is a graduate of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law (J.D. 2005, Woolsack Honor Society), and the Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration (M.B.A. 2004, Beta Gamma Sigma). While attending law school, he was a member of the Irving R. Kaufman Securities Moot Court Team. Prior to law school, Mr. Johns attended Washington and Lee University (B.S. 2002, cum laude), where he played college basketball and spent a semester studying abroad in Osaka, Japan. Outside of the office, Mr. Johns has coached in the Narberth Basketball League for the past few summers. He is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and the Antitrust Division of the American Bar Association.