Dan Deane

What do you focus on?

Complex Commercial Litigation and Class Action/Aggregate Litigation

I focus on strategies calculated to avoid or minimize the disruption of costly class and aggregate litigation. I have secured favorable results for clients by defeating class certification and enforcing contractual arbitration and class-waiver provisions. I have particular experience defending lenders and franchise retailers and other consumer-facing businesses against claims of unfair and deceptive business practices, unfair debt collection practices, and invasion of privacy under statutes such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and state consumer protection laws.

Employment and Education

I represent employers defending against claims of discrimination, wrongful discharge, wage-and-hour violations, and other related claims. I have successfully enforced non-competition and arbitration agreements. I also represent private boarding schools and institutions of higher education facing investigation or litigation arising from allegations of discrimination, sexual assault on campus, and/or challenging student disciplinary proceedings.

Government Investigations and Criminal Defense

I help individuals and companies navigate through federal and state civil and criminal investigations, including against charges of mail and wire fraud and other alleged violations of federal and state laws.

Appeals

I have an active appellate practice in state and federal appellate courts. I have briefed and argued before the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth United States Courts of Appeal, as well as the New Hampshire and United States Supreme Courts. I have been a member of the First Circuit’s Criminal Justice Act panel since 2011 and was recently appointed by the Court to serve on its CJA Screening Committee.

What do you see on the horizon?

Despite calls for reform, the growth of class action litigation continues unabated, particularly class actions premised on alleged violations of consumer protection statutes that provide for statutory damages and claims that retailers induced consumers with false or misleading representations. Privacy claims will also remain at the forefront of consumer litigation. Businesses that interact with consumers should ensure their ongoing compliance with state and federal privacy laws, including the FCRA, TCPA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA, and related state laws. To stay up-to-date on this ever evolving area of the law, please visit our blogs NP Privacy Partner and TCPA Info, News & Insights.

Federal Court Clerkships

• Hon. Jeffrey R. Howard, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2004–2006
• Hon. Joseph A. DiClerico, Jr., U.S. District Court, District of N.H., 2006–2007

Representative Cases

Class Action Defense

• Defending putative class action over adequacy of fitness club franchisor’s membership agreement under state law; motion to dismiss granted on all counts but one with renewed motion to dismiss pending on that count; Truglio et al. v. Planet Fitness, Inc. et al.. USDC(NJ)
• Engineered early, small payout settlements of several multimillion-dollar TCPA class action suits, including multiple suits against a jewelry retailer sued for debt collection calls, a TCPA debt collection class action against a national bank, telemarketing class actions against a fitness club franchise and a restaurant franchise, and a TCPA telemarketing class action against a residential solar company
• Defended KeyBank, National Association against class action allegations that the bank’s student loan business should be held derivatively liable to the students of a non–Title IV flight school in California that closed its doors; prevailed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, obtaining a significant ruling enforcing the bank’s arbitration clause and effectively ending plaintiffs’ class action bid; the precedent-setting decision invalidated California’s “public injunction” exception to arbitration; Kilgore v. KeyBank, Nat’l Assoc., 673 F.3d 947 (9th Cir. Mar. 7, 2012)
• In cases involving similar non–Title IV student loans for culinary schools, procured the voluntary dismissal of another large national bank from a series of class actions and aggregate mass actions premised on allegations of derivative lender liability under the Federal Trade Commission’s “Holder Rule”
• Negotiated favorable settlements for two national banks in three separate but similar litigations in Utah involving failed flight schools; in a fourth case, drafted briefing that resulted in the dismissal of the action with prejudice and granting attorneys’ fees and costs to the client; Aquila v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., et al., No. 080417681 (3rd Jud. Dist. Ct., Salt Lake Cnty., Utah, Jan. 26, 2010)
• Defended a national bank against a $15 million lender liability action in Florida involving allegations of fraud, misrepresentation and civil RICO claims arising from a failed flight school
• Preserved KeyBank, National Association’s dismissal in a putative nationwide class action concerning forced place insurance in appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; Anapoell v. Key Equip. Fin., et al., No. 08-4114, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6315 (10th Cir. Mar. 24, 2009), and defeated plaintiff’s petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, 130 S. Ct. 264, 175 L. Ed. 2d 132, 2009 U.S. LEXIS 6137 (Oct. 5, 2009)

Other Litigation

• Recent federal trial experience defending a private boarding school in litigation stemming from an allegation of student-on-student sexual assault and the student disciplinary proceedings that followed
• Negotiated favorable settlement for a student loan lender defending against claims that it had violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and several state consumer protection laws
• Assisted a state insurance guaranty association obtain summary judgment against the United States Department of Labor’s attempt to establish a priority, through a novel federal preemption argument, over the guaranty association’s claims in insurer liquidation proceedings; Solis v. The Home Ins. Co., et al., No. 10-cv-572-SM, 2012 DNH 120; 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9551 (D.N.H. Jan. 27, 2012)
• Obtained a favorable global settlement for a national bank defending against dual lawsuits in the New York Supreme Court and before a FINRA arbitration panel alleging investment mismanagement
• Negotiated several favorable confidential settlements on behalf of multiple health care and financial services clients facing claims brought by former employees
• Successfully obtained injunctive relief for a business division of Dell against a former high-level sales executive enforcing the company’s confidentiality and non-competition agreements; in subsequent related proceedings, successfully fended off the former employee’s claim for wrongful injunction both in Superior Court and on appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court; EqualLogic, Inc. v. Shea, S. D. Hillsborough Cnty. Superior Ct. No. 08-E-265 (2009), N.H. Supreme Ct., No. 2009-0679 (Jan. 5, 2011)
• In a case in New Hampshire state court involving allegations that an IRA custodian account was improperly handled, filed a motion to dismiss for a national bank that caused the plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss the bank

Publications

• “United States,” The Franchise Law Review, 8th edition, chapter 42, Law Business Research Ltd., March 2021 (co-author)
• “The uncertain future of the TCPA in the Trump era,” Bloomberg Law, May 08, 2017
• “Protect your consumers’ privacy from mass telemarketing,” Rochester Business Journal, October 9, 2015
• “Think Before You Hit Send: What businesses need to know about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act,” New Hampshire Business Review, September 4, 2015
• “Avoiding the Risks of Local Counsel Engagement in Federal Court,” New Hampshire Bar News, December 17, 2014
• “Law: ‘Associational discrimination’ emerges in lawsuits,” New Hampshire Business Review, December 4, 2011
• “The Articulate Advocate: New Techniques of Persuasion for Trial Lawyers” (book review), New Hampshire Bar News, September 18, 2009
• “What to Do When the Feds Knock on Your Door: Responding Appropriately To An Unwanted Government Intrusion Is Critical To the Future of A Company,” New Hampshire Business Review , May 22, 2009
• “COPA and Community Standards on the Internet: Should the People of Maine and Mississippi Dictate the Standard in Las Vegas and New York?” 51 Cath. U. L. Rev. 241, Fall 2001