CHASING AMBULANCE CHASERS?: Perrong and the Wolf Team Up To Sue Personal Injury Firm Karns & Karns in TCPA Class Suit in Texas

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In the classic graphic novel, the question is posed “Who watches the Watchmen?”

Well, in today’s landscape of run away litigation and multi-millionaire plaintiff’s lawyers, one might rightly ask “Who chases the ambulance chasers?”

We might finally have an answer and, in truth, there’s a bit of irony to the whole thing.

Not long ago I was interviewed by Reuters in connection with a new phenomenon–Plaintiff’s lawyers suing each other under the TCPA. That article was about a massive number of class actions being filed against law firms that were buying Camp Lejeune leads.

These firms just could not fathom how they might be liable for calls made by third-parties, especially when the lead seller had promised to only sell consented leads. And yet, here they were, getting obliterated by Diana Mey and the like.

Queenie and I were REPEATEDLY invited to come to Mass Tort Made Perfect–the big mass tort lead generation convention in Vegas where Paris Hilton apparently rubbed shoulders with attendees–and we declined.

The reason is simple– we will NEVER represent a Plaintiff’s firm. At least not in litigation. Maybe we’d hep them clean up their act. But no interest in defending these guys.

So that’s why I am somewhat tickled to see personal injury law firm Karns & Karns in a suit brought by the Wolf and Perrong (can’t wait to talk to that guy next week.)

In the new suit–brought by famous repeat litigator Kim Starling– Karns & Karns allegedly “controlled” the lead supplier NEXLEVEL DIRECT LLC (who has allegedly been sued repeatedly for these same tactics) and Accident LLC who sent unwanted messages to Starling’s phone.

Starling sues on behalf of two classes of individuals who received similar calls from Defendants:

National Do Not Call Registry Class: All persons in the United States whose (1)
telephone numbers were on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least 31
days, (2) but who received more than one telemarketing call from or on behalf of
NexLevel Direct, Karns & Karns, or Accident, LLC, (3) within a 12-month
period, (4) at any time in the period that begins four years before the date of filing
this Complaint to trial.

Texas Business and Commerce Code Class: All persons in the State of Texas
who (1) received a telephone solicitation call from or on behalf of NexLevel
Direct, Karns & Karns, or Accident, LLC, (2) at any time during which NexLevel
Direct, Karns & Karns, or Accident, LLC were not registered as telephone
solicitors with the Texas Secretary of State, (3) at any time in the period that
begins four years before the date of filing this Complaint to trial.

These class definitions are an absolute mess. But since I don’t want to help anybody I’ll just stay quiet about that. 🙂

So I’d never actually root for the Wolf or Perrong, but in this one I am certainly a bit bemused and find myself strangely aligned with them. If the TCPA class action lawyers take a bite out of unsolicited calls by personal injury law firms maybe they can earn back some credibility with regular Americans who are tired of all the abusive litigation out there…

but probably not.

We’ll keep an eye on this.

For the curious you can read the whole complaint here:

Ambulance Chaser Complaint

And hope to see you all next month at the Summit!

Register Here.

Chat soon.

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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.

2 Comments

  1. I wonder if Karns and Karns realize what kind of sh*t storm they walked into? lol

    Reply

  2. Felt this one, ET. Not everyone got to meet Ms. Hilton! Still love y’all 🙂

    Reply

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