John C. Grugan
Partner
Overview
John C. Grugan is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Philadelphia office and focuses his practice on defending clients in government investigations and complex litigation brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and state attorneys general. At Holland & Knight, he serves as the Philadelphia Litigation Practice Group Leader.
Mr. Grugan has substantial experience working with boards of directors, audit committees, special litigation committees and corporate management to direct corporate internal investigations. His experience includes numerous engagements in which he handled corporate investigations and related negotiations with the government, after which the government declined to prosecute or pursue litigation.
Mr. Grugan is often recognized for his work by industry publications, including Chambers USA for Litigation: Securities (Pennsylvania). In 2023, one client commented as follows:
"John is an enormously valuable strategic adviser. He is very smart, exceptionally accessible and most importantly, wise and practical."
– Chambers USA – America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, 2023
As another client stated:
"John is very strategic and very well respected at the SEC and DOJ. I really like him, he's practical and smart."
– Chambers USA – America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, 2024
Mr. Grugan also annually is listed in Benchmark Litigation as a National Litigation Star and is mentioned in The Legal 500.
In the community, Mr. Grugan chairs the boards of his alma mater, St. Joseph's Preparatory School, as well as Good360, the nation's second-largest nonprofit and the largest nonprofit that assists retailers in meeting their environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments. He is a frequent lecturer and author on topics such as government investigations of financial services institutions and protecting corporate interests in internal investigations. Mr. Grugan also co-chairs the American Bar Association Business Law Section subcommittee on Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Grugan worked as a litigation partner in the Philadelphia office of a national law firm. Additionally, he was a law clerk to the Honorable James McGirr Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and served as a trial attorney in the DOJ's Honors Program, Civil Division.
Representative Experience
- Representation of a utility in an internal investigation and federal grand jury investigation relating to the utility’s participation in political contributions and lobbying; after a lengthy investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) terminated the investigation
- Representation of a student loan servicer in a joint investigation between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the U.S. Department of Education, as well as investigations by the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, the New York Attorney General’s Office and the New York Department of Financial Services; after lengthy investigations, all of these matters were resolved on extremely favorable terms
- Representation of a law firm in a CFPB investigation relating to litigation practices; the CFPB terminated the investigation
- Representation of a defense contractor in connection with the alleged use of “gray market” components; after a lengthy investigation, the government concluded that the defense contractor should not have been regarded as a subject of the investigation but instead had been victimized by a third-party distributor and was entitled to restitution
- Representation of a business solutions company in connection with a litigation relating to the accessibility of a government website; after a lengthy litigation, the matter was settled on extremely favorable terms for the client
- Representation of an international shipbuilder with operations in Philadelphia in a lawsuit brought under the federal False Claims Act (FCA); after extensive discovery, the plaintiff/relator agreed to voluntarily dismiss her FCA claims
- Representation of an Ivy League medical school in FCA litigation relating to National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants; after obtaining partial summary judgment against the relator, the relator dismissed his remaining claim
- Representation of a federal student loan servicer challenging the legality of Connecticut and California state licensing requirements; in decisions of first impression in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Ninth Circuit, the federal courts granted summary judgment in the servicer's favor, finding that the state licensing requirements were preempted as applied to federal student loan servicing
- Representation of a federal student loan servicer in several putative class actions relating to the servicer's administration of a number of federal programs; in decisions of first impression in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, the federal trial courts dismissed all claims upon motions to dismiss
- Representation of a federal student loan servicer in litigation in which a state attorney general challenged all aspects of the servicer's performance, including its administration of several federal loan forgiveness programs; after a lengthy litigation that received national and congressional attention, the matter was resolved on a no admission, no penalty basis
- Representation of a health system in an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation relating to the sufficiency of disclosures to bond holders; after receiving the health system's response to the SEC's Wells Notice, the SEC terminated the investigation
- Representation of the audit committee of a publicly traded industrial pollution control and air-purification company in an SEC investigation relating to revenue recognition manipulation and misappropriation; the SEC did not take any action against the company
Credentials
- Temple University, Beasley School of Law, J.D., cum laude
- University of Pennsylvania, B.A.
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Utah
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Board of Trustees, 2020-Present; Chair of the Board, 2022-Present
- Good360, Board of Directors, 2017-Present; Chair of the Board, 2022-Present
- Franklin Institute, Executive Corporate Board, 2019-Present
- Neighborhood Club of Bala Cynwyd, Past President, 2011-2012
- Temple Law Review, Editor-in-Chief
- Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Litigation: Securities, 2021-Present
- Benchmark Litigation, Litigation Star, Securities, White Collar Crime, 2021-Present
- The Legal 500 USA, Securities Litigation, 2022-Present
- The 25 Notable Attorneys of Pennsylvania, Attorney Intel, 2023
- Stand-out Lawyer, Thomson Reuters, 2023
