Fearless in New York: Yitzchak Zelman of Marcus & Zelman gives Unprecedented podcast his secret sauce for litigating TCPA cases!–plus Rep. Joe Crowley!

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The Fourth Episode of SPB’s Unprecedented Podcast is just too big. There’s just too much in it.

As I teased last week, former Rep. Joe Crowley (D. N.Y.)– a man who spent many of his 20 years in Congress as part of Democratic leadership– joined the Unprecedented podcast IN STUDIO this week. We discussed his rise into politics, his time in Congress and his decision to join Squire Patton Boggs. Most importantly, however, he gives us an expert-eye view of TRACED–the startling expansion of the TCPA working its way swiftly through Congress— and explains how SPB’s policy team can assist clients interested in assuring that their concerns about the enactment are heard–before it is too late.

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But that’s just half of what we have for you this week.

Yitzchak Zelman is the biggest name in TCPAWorld that you may not have ever heard (or know how to pronounce.) He was lead counsel for Mr. Reyes in Reyes v. Lincoln Financial Services. He was lead counsel for Ms. Pinkus in Pinkus v. Siruis XM Radio.  And he partly avenged those losses in his big recent wins in Jiminez– rejecting a good faith defense for wrong number phone calls— and N.L. v. Credit One— a trial victory, the first of his career.

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But the really juicy stuff arises out of  D’Ottavio v. Slack Techs., 1:18-cv-09082-NLH-AMD, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64069 (D. N.J. April 15, 2019) where his client is accused of setting up a massive TCPA case by sending 1,590 texts to himself. Think I asked him about it? But of course. And despite the fact that Zelman is currently asking to withdraw from that case he still tells Unprecedented that he’s “never seen” a bogus TCPA case. Brave words. What a (TCPA) world we live in!

Listen to the interview, found here, to learn:

  • How’d Zelman handle his big losses in Reyes and Pinkus?
  • What sorts of cases did he handle before TCPA?
  • What’s Zelman’s strategy in approaching these cases?
  • What really happened in D’Ottavio?
  • Why did the court decide willfulness in N.L.?
  • What’s next for him and his law firm?

Before we get to the interviews, the team breaks down two major developments– the status of TRACED and ROBOCOP (at 2:36 mark) and a Third Circuit Court of Appeal rejecting the “pretext” approach to evaluating telemarketing for TCPA purposes. (At 7:31 mark).

Its another jammed-packed episode you won’t want to miss. Enjoy!

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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