Another Weird TCPAWorld Moment: That Time a Guy Subpoenaed the FTC to Produce the Entire NDNC List and Got 4.3MM Records Instead

Add a comment

Prefer to get your TCPA news in audio form? Subscribe to the new TCPA TODAY spotify podcast to get audio versions of TCPAWorld.com’s great content. Click below:

I love TCPAWorld.

You just can’t make up the stuff that goes on here.

Here’s a for instance.

In Truemann v. Ftc,  Case No. 21-mc-9004-SRB, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71714 (W.D. Mo. April 14, 2021) some dude in Missouri thought it would be fun to subpoena the FTC and demand that it produce–wait for it–the entire National Do Not Call registry to him.

I mean, why not?

The underlying lawsuit alleged that a cable company had made unwanted calls to over 4 million phone numbers on the DNC. In order to prove that the numbers were, in fact, on the DNC the Plaintiff argued he had to obtain a copy of the entire list.

Makes sense. Sort of.

Unsurprisingly the Court disagreed, but it did require the FTC to do the hard work of finding his class members for him. Specifically, the FTC was ordered to supply information regarding the DNC status for all 4MM+ phone numbers Plaintiff identified. How weird is that?

Notably the Plaintiff was required to pay the FTC for the hard work and the order came with certain limitations. Most importantly: “the parties are prohibited from using the National Do Not Call Registry data disclosed by the FTC in connection with this Order to contact any individuals whose records are disclosed.”

We’ll keep an eye on this one.

Categories:

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.

Leave a Reply