Joseph I. Marchese is the Managing Partner of Bursor & Fisher’s New York office.  Joe focuses his practice on complex civil litigation and consumer class actions.  He has represented corporate and individual clients in a wide array of civil litigation, and has substantial trial and appellate experience.

Joe litigates and resolves consumer class actions involving data privacy claims pursuant to the Illinois BIPA, California Invasion of Privacy Act, Michigan PPPA, and the federal VPPA.  He also has significant experience handling claims of false or misleading advertising, mislabeling, data breaches, product defects, violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Joe has experience in multidistrict litigation proceedings as well.  He served on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In Re:  Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. Marketing And Sales Practices Litigation, MDL No. 2562, which resulted in a $32 million cash classwide settlement.  Currently, he serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for Economic Reimbursement in In Re:  Valsartan Products Liability Litigation.

Since joining B&F in 2011, Joe has settled numerous class actions on behalf of his clients, totaling more than $500 Million.

Aside from work, Joe devotes time to community service, where he focuses his efforts on law and education.  From 2015 to 2021, Joe served as a board member for St. Joseph School in Garden City, New York.  In 2019, he coached the St. Joseph School Mock Trial Team in the annual Catholic Middle School Mock Trial Program, hosted by St. John’s University School of Law.  Recently, Joe was a “Pathways” instructor to SJS Middle School students for his Mini Law School course.

Joe is admitted to the State Bars of New York and Michigan, and is a member of the bars of the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Northern District of New York, the District of New Hampshire, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Western District of Michigan, the Central District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Missouri, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin, as well as the bar of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Sixth Circuits.

Joe graduated from Boston University School of Law in 2002 and from Bucknell University in 1998.  Prior to joining Bursor & Fisher, he was a litigation associate at two large law firms in New York, where he represented insurance carriers, financial institutions, product manufacturers, and telecommunications companies.

Selected Published Decisions

  • Yockey v. Salesforce, Inc., 688 F. Supp. 3d 962 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 25, 2023), denying defendant’s motion to dismiss California and Pennsylvania wiretapping claims arising from use of its Chat function on Rite Aid’s and Kaiser Permanente’s websites.
  • Farwell v. Google, LLC, 595 F. Supp. 3d 702 (C.D. Ill. Mar. 31, 2022), denying defendant’s motion to dismiss BIPA claims brought on behalf of Illinois students using Google’s Workspace for Education platform.
  • Ortiz v. Sig Sauer, Inc., 448 F. Supp. 3d 89 (D.N.H. Mar. 23, 2020), denying gun manufacturer’s motion to dismiss its customers’ design defect, fraud, warranty and unjust enrichment claims.
  • Martinelli v. Johnson & Johnson, 2019 WL 1429653 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 29, 2019), granting class certification of California false advertising claims and multi-state express warranty claims brought by purchasers of butter substitute claiming “No Trans Fat.”
  • Boelter v. Hearst Communications, Inc., 269 F. Supp. 3d 172 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 7, 2017), granting plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on state privacy law violations in putative class action.
  • In re Scotts EZ Seed Litigation, 304 F.R.D. 397 (S.D.N.Y. 2015), granting class certification of false advertising claims brought by New York and California purchasers of grass seed product.
  • Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc., 297 F.R.D. 561 (S.D.N.Y. 2014), granting nationwide class certification of false advertising claims brought by purchasers of purported “100% Pure Olive Oil” product.
  • In re Michaels Stores Pin Pad Litigation, 830 F. Supp. 2d 518 (N.D. Ill. 2011), denying retailer’s motion to dismiss its customers’ state law consumer privacy claims in data breach putative class action.

Selected Class Settlements

  • Burns v. TD Bank, N.A, Case No. 21-cv-18194-KMW-AMD (D.N.J. 2024) – final approval granted for $32.25 million class settlement to resolve claims of personal checking account holders for alleged improper overdraft fee charges.
  • Schreiber v. Mayo Foundation, Case No. 22-cv-0188-HYJ-RSK (W.D. Mich. 2024) – final approval granted for $52.5 million class settlement to resolve claims of magazine subscribers for alleged statutory privacy violations.
  • Marquez v. Google LLC, Case No. 2021-CH-1460 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty. 2022) – final approval granted for $100 million class settlement to resolve alleged BIPA violations of Illinois residents appearing in photos on the Google Photos platform.
  • Benbow v. SmileDirectClub, LLC, Case No. 2020-CH-07269 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty. 2021) – final approval granted to $11.5 million class settlement to resolve claims for alleged TCPA violations.
  • Edwards v. Hearst Communications, Inc., Case No. 15-cv-09279-AT (S.D.N.Y. 2019) – final approval granted for $50 million class settlement to resolve claims of magazine subscribers for alleged statutory privacy violations.
  • In re Scotts EZ Seed Litigation, Case No. 12-cv-4727-VB (S.D.N.Y. 2018) – final approval granted for $47 million class settlement to resolve false advertising claims of purchasers of combination grass seed product.
  • In Re:  Blue Buffalo Marketing And Sales Practices Litigation, Case No. 14-MD-2562-RWS (E.D. Mo. 2016) – final approval granted for $32 million class settlement to resolve claims of pet owners for alleged false advertising of pet foods.
  • Rodriguez v. Citimortgage, Inc., Case No. 11-cv-4718-PGG (S.D.N.Y. 2015) – final approval granted for $38 million class settlement to resolve claims of military servicemembers for alleged foreclosure violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, where each class member was entitled to $116,785 plus lost equity in the foreclosed property and interest thereon.
  • O’Brien v. LG Electronics USA, Inc., et al., Case No. 10-cv-3733-DMC (D.N.J. 2011) – final approval granted for $23 million class settlement to resolve claims of Energy Star refrigerator purchasers for alleged false advertising of the appliances’ Energy Star qualification.