Barry Goheen

Partner | Litigation

About

Barry Goheen has practiced for 25 years, focusing on consumer class actions; credit-related, financial products and services; data breach and privacy litigation; and complex litigation.

Practices

  • Commercial Litigation

  • Cyber-Risk, Privacy, and Data Security

  • Civil Pretrial and Trial Services

  • TCPA Defense

  • Products Liability Litigation and Counseling

  • Class Action Defense

Admissions

  • Georgia

  • Tennessee

Education

  • Vanderbilt 1989, B.A.

  • Vanderbilt 1994, J.D.

Recognition

Member of the Vanderbilt Law Review, Executive Associate Justice of the Vanderbilt Moot Court Board, and recognized in the 1993-94 edition of Who’s Who in American Law Students

Experience

  • FisherBroyles, LLP

  • King & Spalding

Class Actions

Mr. Goheen has served as lead or co-counsel in over 60 class actions in all areas of the law, including antitrust, financial products and services, securities fraud, consumer protection, privacy/data breach, product liability and general commercial disputes in state and federal courts representing such clients as The Coca-Cola Company, SunTrust Banks, Mid-America Apartment Communities, Equifax, GreenSky, Aaron’s, Chico’s, SCANA, Humana, Bank of America, and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. His class action matters include:

  • Participation in several phases of a multi-phase trial of a product liability class action in Miami, Florida.

  • Lead counsel in the defense of a proposed nationwide RICO class action brought against automobile manufacturer alleging misrepresentation of horsepower in the vehicles.

  • Lead counsel in over 20 class actions against consumer reporting agency alleging violations of Fair Credit Reporting Act, including entering trial of FCRA class action in 2010 in federal court in Pennsylvania, settling case on favorable terms for client after opening statements.

  • Lead or co-counsel in defense of over 40 proposed class actions brought by consumers of cigarette products, obtaining dismissal or denial of class certification in all but two cases.

Representative Cases

  • Consumer Privacy/Data Breach: Singletery v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, 540 Fed. Appx. 939 (11th Cir. 2013) (affirming summary judgment and denial of class certification); Soutter v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, 498 Fed. Appx. 260 (4th Cir. 2012) (reversing class certification); Carvalho v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, 629 F.3d 876 (9th Cir. 2010), aff’g 588 F. Supp. 2d 1089 (N.D. Cal. 2008) (summary judgment in proposed class action); Bales v. Bright Solar Marketing LLC, 2023 WL 3687811 (M.D. Fla. May 26, 2023) (granting summary judgment in proposed class action); Wright v. Greensky Mgt. Co., LLC, 2022 WL 17250331 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 28, 2022) (denying class certification in alleged consumer fraud case); Wright v. GreenSky, Inc., 2021 WL 4989918 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 27, 2021) (granting partial dismissal of class complaint); Kirchein v. Pet Supermarket, Inc., 297 F. Supp. 3d 1354 (S.D. Fla. 2018) (dismissing FACTA class action due to lack of standing); Perrill v. Equifax Info. Servs., 205 F. Supp. 3d 869 (W.D. Tex. 2016) (granting motion to dismiss class complaint); 2016); Jackson v. Equifax Info. Servs., No. 13-cv-2382 (N.D. Ga. Sept. 11, 2015) (granting summary judgment in proposed nationwide class action); Williams v. Citi Mortgage, Inc., 2014 WL 1406601(W.D. Okla. Apr. 10, 2014) (granting motion to dismiss class allegations); Gardner v. Equifax Info. Services, 2007 WL 2261688 (D. Minn. Aug. 6, 2007) (denying class certification).

  • TCPA/state statutes: Bales v. Bright Solar Marketing LLC, 2023 WL 3687811 (M.D. Fla. May 26, 2023) (granting summary judgment in proposed class action under Florida Telephone Solicitation Act); Eldridge v. Pet Supermarket Inc., 446 F. Supp. 3d 1063 (S.D. Fla. 2020) (dismissing TCPA class action due to lack of standing); Garrett v. SCANA Mktg., Inc., No. 1:15-cv-03881 (N.D. Ga. May 12, 2017) (individual settlement of proposed TCPA class action).

  • Other Consumer Class Actions: Simring v. GreenSky, LLC, 29 F.4th 1262 (11th Cir. 2022) (reversing remand of proposed class action); Cleven v. Mid-America Apt. Communities, Inc., 20 F.4th 171 (5th Cir. 2021) (reversing class certification in landlord-tenant context); Anderson v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 112 Fed. Appx. 491 (6th Cir. 2004) (affirming dismissal of class action complaint); Wright v. Greensky, Inc., 2021 WL 2414170 (S.D. Fla. June 14, 2021) (granting motion to compel individual arbitration in proposed class action);Hennessy v. Mid-America Apt. Communities, Inc., 2019 WL 13298577 (W.D. Mo. Aug. 8, 2019) (approving settlement of class action); Terlizzi v. Altitude Mktg., Inc., 2018 WL 2196090 (D. Colo. May 14, 2018) (granting motion to compel individual arbitration in proposed class action); Alfortish v. GreenSky, LLC, 2017 WL 699830 (E.D. La. Feb. 22, 2017) (granting motion to compel individual arbitration in proposed class action); Jones v. Bank of America Corp., 2013 WL 6198206 (M.D. Ga. Nov. 27, 2013) (granting motion to dismiss class complaint); Parker v. Midland Credit Mgmt., Inc., 874 F. Supp. 2d 1353 (M.D. Fla. 2012) (granting motion to dismiss class complaint); Rollins, Inc. v. Warren, 653 S.E.2d 794 (Ga. App. 2007) (decertifying class).

Trials

In addition to the class trial identified above, Mr. Goheen has extensive trial experience in business litigation matters arising in varied areas of the law.

  • Lead counsel in jury trial in case brought under Fair Credit Reporting Act, obtaining defense verdict (affirmed on appeal) in case where plaintiff sought $25 million.

  • Lead counsel in the two-week bench trial of a RICO case asserted against one of the firm’s clients in federal court in Louisiana.

  • Lead counsel in the defense of a franchisor-franchisee dispute in the Southern District of Georgia, in which the jury returned a defense verdict that was affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • Co-counsel for plaintiffs in fraud and civil RICO case that obtained $6 million verdict against defendants, with damages tripled to $18 million.

Representative Cases

  • Morris v. Equifax Info. Services LLC, 289 Fed. Appx. 708 (5th Cir. 2008) (affirming defense verdict); Maiz v. Virani, 253 F.3d 641 (11th Cir. 2001) (affirming jury’s RICO verdict); Coffee v. General Motors Acc. Corp., 30 F. Supp. 2d 1376 (S.D. Ga. 1998) (granting partial summary judgment), 218 F.3d 746 (table) (11th Cir. 2000) (affirming defense verdict).

  • Okocha v. Trans Union LLC, 488 Fed. Appx. 535 (2d Cir. 2012) (affirming summary judgment); Aclys Intern. v. Equifax, 438 Fed. Appx. 689 (10th Cir. 2011) (affirming dismissal); Ex parte King, 59 So. 3d 21 (Ala. 2010) (granting writ of mandamus); Intera Corp. v. Henderson, 428 F.3d 605 (6th Cir. 2005) (affirming dismissal of complaint); Versa Products, Inc. v. Home Depot, USA, Inc., 387 F.3d 1325 (11th Cir. 2004) (dismissing plaintiffs’ appeal); Priority Payment Sys., LLC v. SignaPay Ltd., 161 F. Supp. 3d 1294 (N.D. Ga. 2016) (granting preliminary injunction in trade secret case); Novartis Animal Health US, Inc. v. Earle Palmer Brown, LLC, 424 F. Supp. 2d 1358 (N.D. Ga. 2006) (granting summary judgment), aff’d, 2007 WL 906446 (11th Cir. 2007); PepsiCo, Inc. v. Coca-Cola Company, 114 F. Supp. 2d 243 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (granting summary judgment), aff’d, 315 F.3d 101 (2d Cir. 2002).

Selected Presentations, Panels, and Publications

  • Author, “Disproportionate or Bankrupting Liability in FCRA Class Actions Remains an Uncertain Class Certification Issue,” Consumer Fin. Services Law Report, Vol. 14, Iss. 24 (1/19/11);

  • Co-Author, “The Credit Card Accountability and Disclosure Act of 2009 and Other Recent Lead Developments Affecting Consumer Class Actions in the Financial Services Industry,” Journal of Taxation and Regulation of Financial Institutions, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Sept./Oct. 2011);

  • Author, “Standing to sue for risk of identity theft based on the compromise of personal identifying information,” Financier Worldwide, December 2014;

  • Quoted, “Justices Should Weigh in on Standing Issue in Breach Class Action, Former Judge Says,” Bloomberg/BNA Class Action Litigation Report, 4/25/15 (16 CLASS 464);

  • Author, “Expert Q&A on Standing in Data Breach Class Actions,” Practical Law, April/May 2015;

  • Quoted, “Why So Many Data Breach Lawsuits Fail” bankinfosecurity.com, May 11, 2015;

  • Author, “Supreme Court Prepares to Weigh FCRA and ‘Actual Injury,’” Corporate Counsel, corporatecounsel.com, June 23, 2015;

  • Author, “Supreme Court to decide whether Congress may confer standing on consumers to sue for statutory violations in the absence of actual harm,” financierworldwide.com, Expert Briefing, July 2015;

  • in Employment on the Rise: Avoiding and Defending Claims,” Strafford, January 2016;

  • Speaker, 24th National Conference on Consumer Finance Class Actions & Litigation, American Conference Institute, January 2016;

  • Co-Author, “Challenges Ahead For Banks Pursuing Data Breach Claims,” Law360, October 13, 2016;

  • Quoted, “Yahoo Breach Combined Class Suit May Grow to 1.5 B Accounts,” Bloomberg BNA Class Action Litigation Report, December 15, 2016;

  • Co-Author, “Perspectives: Recent District Court Decision Creates Higher Standard for Financial Institutions Pursuing Data Breach Claims,” Corporate Disputes, January-March 2017;

  • Quoted, “Unredacted Card Receipt Allegations Cost Microsoft $1.2M,” Bloomberg BNA Class Action Litigation Report, March 10, 2017

Teaching

  • Adjunct Professor, Emory School of Law, 2011-2021, Advanced Pretrial Litigation and Class Actions

Amicus Briefs

  • Amicus Brief on behalf of Southern States Police Benevolent Association in Eleventh circuit Court of Appeals in Myrick v. City of Hoover, Ala., 69 F.4th1309 (11th Cir. 2023), helping obtain affirmance of plaintiff verdict Amicus Brief on behalf of Atlanta Apartment Association in Supreme Court of Georgia in Star Residential, LLC v. Hernandez, 311 Ga. 784 860 S.E.2d 726 (2021), helping to obtain reversal of ruling in premises liability case