CONSEQUENCES: Repeat TCPA Litigator Craig Cunningham May Be Headed to Jail For Contempt And This is As Serious as It Gets

3 Comments

Craig Cunningham is a repeat TCPA litigator of the highest order.

He has brought numerous cases over the years but when he elected to sue something called MJ Ministries back in April, 2022 he got more than he bargained for.

The trouble started for Cunningham in February, 2024 when defendant sought sanctions for Cunningham serving invalid subpoenas. The Court ended up granted a motion to quash and ordered sanctions in the amount of $11,467.50. Cunningham was ordered to pay within 30 days but he apparently failed to do so.

So in January, 2025 MJ Ministries– deciding not to turn the other cheek– sought sanctions AGAIN, this time for Cunningham having failed to pay the previous sanctions order.

Well just yesterday the court granted that motion and with emphasis.

Specifically Cunningham was ordered to pay another $6,887.00 in sanctions plus $2,500.00 for willful non-compliance PLUS $300.00 per day in penalties!.

So Cunningham now owes over $20k plus $300.00 per day until he pays!

And that’s not the worst of it.

Cunningham has been ordered to attend a hearing IN PERSON in May to address why he should not be THROWN IN JAIL for failing to pay the amount ordered by the Court previously:

Additionally, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff appear before this Court for a hearing to show cause as to why he should not be incarcerated in relation to his repeated and blatant contemptuous acts. The hearing in this case is set for Monday, May 19, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 1705 of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building located at 2211 United States Courthouse, 75 Ted Turner Drive, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3309.

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Lee

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Lee.

That is scary.

So Cunningham might be going to jail for failing to pay some money. Not sure debtor’s prisons are a thing in this country, but if he is willfully choosing not to pay then he is in some big trouble. We will see.

Look, I don’t know if this is what Jesus would do, but I know it is what aggressive TCPA defense lawyers can do. And you have to respect the hard work of Ryan Watstein’s great team to get this result– no wonder they ranked so high on our power rankings list!

See everyone in a bit at LeadsCon and would LOVE to see everyone in July at Law Conference of Champions III— where the winners will come together!

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.

3 Comments

  1. Cunningham probably ought to go to jail and it will be hilarious to see him jailed. I think he is a complete scumbag.

    Reply

    1. Would you kindly explain your animosity toward Mr. Cunningham? The only things I know about you and him are what I read on TCPAWorld and on the Internet. He is a TCPA plaintiff. You are a plaintiffs attorney located in Mentor, Ohio. So, what did he do to you that you so dislike him?

      Reply

      1. The guy is a scumbag. He has admitted in the past to having shoeboxes full of burner phones. He inputs his various numbers into web campaigns, waiting for companies to call him. Even with consent, he still files lawsuits, and the burden of proving consent falls on the defendant. He will call members of your family, threatening that he is coming for you and demanding his money. He is a professional extortionist, known by every TCPA attorney in the country. He files in federal court in person, deliberately choosing a state different from the defendant’s, forcing them to hire counsel in that state or settle immediately for 10% of the claim. He exploits the court system, costing taxpayers with his loophole schemes. In the past, he has run blogs trying to position himself as a guru for this. Litigation databases, such as Blacklist Alliance, cite him as an example of who to watch out for. So, as Bryan said, SCUMBAG.

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