BIZARRE: Oddball Complaint by Pro Se TCPA Claim Seeking $50MM in Damages Meets Its End

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Quick one for you this Friday.

Donna Marie Conner filed a TCPA suit recently naming about half the country in a bizarre alleged scheme.

I will spare you most of the details but here is who she sued:

 CT Corporation System, the registered agent for Xfinity, Plaintiff’s internet provider; Assurance Wireless, Plaintiff’s phone provider; multiple government officials, including U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Jason S. Miyares, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Jennifer McClellan, a Virginia state Senator; and multiple government entities, including the Petersburg, Colonial Height, and York County Police Departments and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Health Professions

At least some number of these individuals allegedly called Plaintiff’s cell phone without consent, maybe even using prerecorded calls. But, as the Court points out, the complaint was too messy to discern exactly what she was claiming.

Nonetheless the Plaintiff demanded $50MM dollars in damages.

The Court granted the Defendants’ motion to dismiss recently, concluding the allegations do not specify which entity made the calls and whether the calls were made using regulated technology.

The court also found that the unhinged demand for $50MM was entirely unrelated to any harm caused by the conduct and should be separately dismissed.

The case is Conner v. Xfinity, et al. 2024 WL 635323 (E.D. Va. Jan. 30, 2024).

Many of you out there dread the shakedown lawsuits that are so commonly filed by seemingly professional-litigants, but remember there is a whole different echelon of wild pro pers out there that aren’t seeking the thoughtful $5k money grab–but to sink an entire enterprise with fantastic demands.

Not sure which one is worse, but at least one court was willing to put a stop to the madness early on in a case.

Chat soon.

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Published by Eric "Czar" 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.

1 Comment

  1. Read the Complaint and the Amended Complaint. WOW! I fail to understand how she tied the TCPA into the matter, but she sure did make a lot of claims under other federal statutes. I love the part about the bumpy bus ride on Greyhound violating her civil rights. Looks like she has noticed an appeal to the 4th Circuit, so there will be more fodder to be made public. Oh, and interesting, she filed in forma pauperis, claiming to be indigent. If she got her claimed $50MM she would not be indigent no more!

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