John Heenan
About John Heenan
John Heenan is a graduate of the University of Montana (honors) and the University of Montana School of Law (high honors). After college, he worked as a truck driver, forklift operator, and teamster intern before beginning his legal career as a law clerk for Chief United States District Court Judge Richard F. Cebull. He then entered private practice handling civil and criminal matters. In 2009, John tried McCollough v. Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger, resulting in one of the largest jury verdicts against a debt collector in the country ($311,000). In 2014, he co-tried King v. GEICO Insurance, which yielded a $2,700,000 jury verdict, and in 2015 he secured a $2,050,000 verdict in Norman v. Deutsche Bank, one of the largest wrongful-foreclosure verdicts on record. John has served as lead or co-lead counsel in consumer class actions recovering more than $50 million for consumers in Montana and across the United States. He holds an AV rating, is listed as a Super Lawyer, and has been recognized among the best consumer protection lawyers in the country. He is a proud member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association.
Notable case results
A federal jury awarded $15 million to two families whose loved ones died at Canyon Creek Memory Care during a 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, finding the Billings facility and its parent company Koelsch Senior Communities liable for neglect through chronic understaffing.
Heenan and Cook secured a $9 million settlement from Custer County District High School on behalf of 32 former student athletes who were sexually abused over decades by longtime school athletic trainer James 'Doc' Jensen.
After nearly a decade of litigation, a federal judge confirmed the U.S. government liable for a BIA officer who coerced a Northern Cheyenne woman into sex during a 2015 welfare call, affirming $1.6 million in damages.
A federal jury found that a North Dakota debt-collection law firm violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by filing and pursuing a credit card lawsuit it knew was barred by Montana's statute of limitations, awarding Timothy McCollough $311,000 in statutory, emotional distress, and punitive damages.
Jury verdict against a debt collector in McCollough v. Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger (2009)
Jury verdict in King v. GEICO Insurance (2014)
Jury verdict in Norman v. Deutsche Bank wrongful foreclosure case (2015)
Lead/co-lead counsel in consumer class actions recovering more than $50 million
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
