Settling the Score: Old Foes Tav Gomez and Frank Kerney join Unprecedented Podcast (In Studio!) to Discuss All Things TCPAWorld

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If there is one firm that has cashed in the most from the explosion of TCPA litigation over the last few years it is surely Morgan & Morgan.

Billing themselves as the largest plaintiff’s law firm in the world, Morgan & Morgan’s aggressive consumer protection department has boasted nearly 10% of all TCPA filings over the last 4 years. Their lawyers have single-handedly made the Middle District of Florida ground zero for the TCPA explosion and have recently expanded their footprint into Georgia, Tennessee and even far flung jurisdictions like Michigan and California. And as the firm transitions toward a greater focus on class litigation the near “limitless” resources available to Morgan & Morgan make it a dangerous “go-the-distance” adversary that everyone needs to take seriously.

In a revealing interview with the head of Morgan & Morgan’s consumer protection department– Tav Gomez– the Unprecedented podcast team unpackages all the big TCPA developments and explore the consumer bar’s perspective on matters such as the ATDS definition and the impact of the Fourth Circuit’s decision in AAPC v FCC, striking down part of the TCPA.

Interestingly, Frank Kerney is also the guy who made TCPAWorld.com a reality. He owned the domain and sold it to me to allow us to create the blog you now know and love. (See, he’s not all bad).

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Frank Kerney and Tav Gomez

Listen to the podcast–available here— to learn:

  • How is the Morgan & Morgan consumer protection department set up?
  • What percentage of Morgan & Morgan’s cases are arbitration suits versus class actions?
  • Would Morgan & Morgan lawyers prefer to be in arbitration or district court?
  • What’s the biggest problem with arbitration in Tav’s view?
  • What is Tav and Frank’s view of AAPC and the First Amendment challenges to the TCPA?
  • What does Frank think will happen if the statute is struck down?
  • Now that the BBA exemption has been struck down, how does Morgan & Morgan plan to use the AAPC decision in cases against collectors of government backed debt?
  • Hear Tav say “don’t read the statute literally” to the courts considering the statute.
  • Get the back story on how TCPAWorld.com came into being and Frank Kerney’s big role in the creation of the website.

Also, at Tav’s request we are happy to roll out the Morgan and Morgan desperate ATDS case list— this is the list of cases Morgan & Morgan will throw at you if you argue that your device is not an autodialer.

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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.