Hi TCPAWorld! The Baroness here with a quick ruling from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The facts are as follows.
Bruce Marks has had his phone number on the National DNC Registry since November 27, 2018. Despite this, he alleges he received approximately 43 telemarketing calls from Unique Lifestyle Vacations even after multiple requests to stop calling him.
Marks alleges he has never done any transactions with Unique or provided his cell phone number to Unique.
Marks filed a Complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Generally, after a Complaint is filed, a defendant has 21 days to answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint. Here, Unique failed to respond. And when a defendant fails to respond, a plaintiff may move for entry of default judgment against the defendant (not something you want to have done to you). And that is what happened here.
Due to Unique’s failure to respond, Marks filed a motion for default judgment against Unique for $64,500.
The Court held a hearing and denied Marks’ motion because he failed to allege facts to support his assertion that Unique placed calls to him. The Court stated, “the Court again finds Marks is unable to establish all the elements to state a claim under § 227(c) for violation of the DNC Registry.” Bruce Marks, v. Unique Lifestyle Vacations, LLC., No. CV 20-4915-KSM, 2023 WL 3294845, at *1 (E.D. Pa. May 5, 2023).
More specifically, the Court found that Marks did not pleaded facts to show that Unique was the party making the calls—despite the Court highlighting this issue in its previous memorandum and prior order. Brilliant.
Plaintiff failed to correct his own deficiencies and thus, the Court was not inclined to grant default judgment in his favor.
Great ruling here!