Attorneys John Albanese

Biography

John Albanese is a Shareholder at the Minneapolis office.  Mr. Albanese has significant experience representing individuals and classes in a wide variety of areas, including litigating claims for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, unfair debt collection, product liability, unlawful lending, unfair insurance practices, data privacy violations, and mass torts. Mr. Albanese is frequently involved in multi-district litigation and serves in a leadership capacity. He has served as class counsel in state and federal courts across the country. Mr. Albanese is a strategic thinker and practical litigator whose goal is to obtain the best result possible for his clients.  

Mr. Albanese is a dynamic speaker and is regularly invited to speak at conferences on cutting-edge litigation issues. He also frequently represents consumer advocacy groups as amici curiae at the appellate level.  He is an editor of the National Consumer Law Center’s Fair Credit Reporting manual.

Mr. Albanese is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Georgetown University. At Columbia, he was a managing editor of the Columbia Law Review and was elected to speak at graduation by his classmates. Mr. Albanese clerked for Magistrate Judge Geraldine Brown in the Northern District of Illinois.

Prominent Judgements and Settlements

    • Beckett v. Aetna, Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-3864 (E.D. Pa.): $17,161,200 settlement related to breach of HIV information
    • Saylor v. Realpage, Inc. Case No. 1:22-cv-53 (E.D. Va.): $9,731,570 settlement related to tenant screening reports that reported allegedly inaccurate sex offender information
    • Stewart v. LexisNexis Risk Data Retrieval Services, LLC, 3:20-cv-903 (E.D. Va.): $24,000,000 FCRA settlement for misreporting public record information
    • Taylor v. Inflection Risk Solutions, LLC, 20-cv-2266 (D. Minn): $4,000,000 FCRA settlement for inaccurately reporting felonies that were deemed misdemeanor and misreporting crimes as violent
    • Rilley v. MoneyMutual, LLC, Case No. 16-cv-4001 (D. Minn):  $2,000,000 settlement for illegal arranging of high-interest online loans
    • Turner v. ZestFinance, Inc., Case No. 3:19-cv-293 (E.D. Va.): $18,500,000 million dollar settlement in case involving illegal online lending.
    • Anderson v. Travelex Ins. Servs., Case No. 8:18-cv-362 (D. Neb.): $3,237,500 settlement in case involving travel insurance.
    • Bankhead v. First Advantage, Case No. 17-cv-2910 (N.D. Ga.) : $1,975,000 FCRA settlement for reporting outdated information.
    • Heaton v. Social Finance, Inc. Case No. 14-cv-5191 (N.D. Cal.): $2,500,000 FCRA settlement for impermissibly pulling credit reports.
    • Nesbitt v. Postmates, Inc. Case No. CGC15547146 (Cal. Sup. Ct.): $2,500,000 FCRA settlement for obtaining consumer reports and taking adverse actions without appropriate disclosures.
    • In re: Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level PAP, and Mechanical Ventilator Products Litigation, 2:21-mc-1230 (W.D. Pa.), served on Law and Briefing Committee and played role in securing $1.075 billion settlement for personal injuries, class action settlement for economic losses providing a minimum of $479 million, and $25 million settlement for medical monitoring.
    • Fernandez v. Corelogic Credco, LLC, 3:20-cv-1262 (S.D. Cal.), class counsel in $58.5 million FCRA settlement for alleged misreporting of consumers on OFAC List.
    • Alabama Doe v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., Case No. 20-CIV-3699 (Cal. Sup. Ct., San Mateo County) – $4,000,000 settlement for alleged privacy violations related to the sending of a mailer that stated “HIV Prevention Team” on face of envelope to consumers who were prescribed HIV-preventative drugs.
    • Ide v. British Airways PLC, Case No. 20-cv-3542 (S.D.N.Y) – class action settlement providing opportunity for class members to receive refunds for flights cancelled in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking Engagements

  • “FCRA Developments,” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, Chicago, IL (Oct. 2023)
  • “The Best Practices in Securing and Vetting Class Representatives,” Mass Torts Made Perfect (Oct. 2022)
  • “Defense Perspectives in FCRA Litigation,” National Association of Consumer Advocates Spring Training (Apr. 2022)
  • “Bringing FDCPA Cases After Ramirez” National Consumer Law Center, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Conference (Apr. 2022)
  • “FCRA Developments,” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference (Dec. 2021)
  • “How to Choose and Plead FCRA Claims in the Current Climate” National Association of Consumer Advocates Spring Training (Apr. 2021)
  • “Article III Standing in FDCPA Litigation,” Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Conference (Mar. 2021)
  • “New Spokeo Developments” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference (Nov. 2020)
  • “FCRA Developments” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference (Nov. 2020)
  • “Background Check Issues” National Association of Consumer Advocates Spring Training (Apr. 2020) 
  • ‘Virtual Depositions” National Association of Consumer Advocates (Mar. 2020)
  • “The CCPA From the Litigator’s Perspective,” Midwest Legal Conference on Privacy and Data Security (Feb. 2020)
  • “Ready, Set, Go!” 2019 NACA Fair Credit Reporting Act Conference, Long Beach, CA, May 2019
  • “Recent Trends and Hot Topics in FCRA Litigation,” Presenter, Minnesota CLE, Minneapolis, MN, January 2019
  • “Practical Implications Post-Spokeo,” Class Action Symposium, Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, National Consumer Law Center, Denver, CO, October 2018.
  • “Article III Standing in a Post-Spokeo World,” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, National Consumer Law Center, Denver, CO, October 2018.
  • “Obsolescence Claims and Background Checks,” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, National Consumer Law Center, Denver, CO, October 2018.
  • “FCRA Litigation Development: Spokeo Update,” Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, National Consumer Law Center, Washington, D.C., November 2017
  • “Proving Willfulness”, 2017 NACA Fair Credit Reporting Act Conference, Baltimore, MD, April 2017
  • “Spokeo in FDCPA and TCPA Cases,” Presenter, Fair Debt Collection Practices Conference, Sheraton Hotel New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, March 2017
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Education:

Law School
Columbia Law School, J.D.

Undergraduate
Georgetown University, B.A

Honors & Awards

  • Super Lawyers Rising Star: 2022
  • Best Lawyers One to Watch: 2021
  • Super Lawyers Rising Star: 2017-2021

Publications

  • Editor, National Consumer Law Center, Fair Credit Reporting 
  • Big Data and Big Errors: Why Giving Furnishers a Free Pass Undermines the Credit Reporting System and Denies Consumers Access to Justice, Student Borrower Protection Center (May 2021)

Admissions

  • Member – Minnesota Bar
  • Member – Illinois Bar 
  • Admitted – U.S. Supreme Court
  • Admitted – Minneapolis Supreme Court
  • Admitted – Illinois Supreme Court
  • Admitted – Central District of Illinois
  • Admitted – District of Minnesota
  • Admitted – Eastern District of Michigan
  • Admitted – Western District of Michigan
  • Admitted – District of Nebraska
  • Admitted – Western District of New York
  • Admitted – Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • Admitted – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – District of Colorado
  • Admitted – Western District of Wisconsin
  • Admitted – Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

Clerkships

  • Hon. Geraldine Soat Brown, Magistrate Judge, Northern District of Illinois