DIRTY HANDS: NCLC Grabs Another $124k in Cy Pres from TCPA Settlement

So the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) is an incredibly powerful think tank/special interest group that just bullied a TCPA change attacking lead generators across the finish line with the FCC.

The NCLC targets businesses small and large alike as it advocates to Congress and the FCC on issues related to the TCPA–advocating for changes to the statute that make it easier for Plaintiff’s lawyers to bring TCPA suits. Most of the time the NCLC asks for these changes to be retroactive.

The NCLC has a tremendous amount of clout with the Biden administration’s FCC primarily because it claims to represent the interests of “low income clients.”

The problem, however, is that a major component of the NCLC’s funding comes from high income plaintiff’s lawyers who funnel money to the NCLC using cy pres distributions in TCPA class action settlements and judgments.

For instance in Allicks v. O’Reilly Auto Parts, 2024 WL 218127 (W.D. Mo. Jan. 19, 2024) the Court approved another $124k in funding to the NCLC from a TCPA settlement.

Eesh.

With millions of dollars in TCPA funding flowing into the NCLC there is little wonder why the group is constantly pestering the FCC–and Congress–to empower more TCPA lawsuits.

Ironically the NCLC’s spokeswoman recently suggested to Congress that business had “gotten to” the FCC Commissioners as it looked to strongarm them to adopting its version of a new consent rule that would provide more ammunition to the plaintiff’s bar. You can hearing this stunning testimony here:

This is just jaw dropping…

This despite the fact that the NCLC is PLAINLY in the pocket of the plaintiff’s bar.

The only one who has been “gotten to” is the NCLC itself. And those monies continue to flow in.

The lawyers for O’Reilly Auto Parts really bear much of the fault here as well. Any DEFENSE lawyer that is agreeing to send the NCLC money either doesn’t know what the hell their doing or is just looking to create more lawsuits to defend.

Eesh. My goodness.

Importantly, through the work of R.E.A.C.H. and Troutman Amin, LLP robocall complaints in this country are actually down 70% since 2018!

Winning the battle…

Meanwhile R.E.A.C.H.– a group that has actually stopped hundreds of millions or robocalls by encouraging good industry actors to work together to stop the problem at its source–has never received a single dollar of funding from cy pres. Which is just bizarre.

So it goes.