NO INDEMNITY: ReNu Solar Loses Effort to Obtain Default Judgment Against TechMedia Group and It Highlights the Issue With Indemnity Agreements

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So here’s one you haven’t heard before.

Company buys lead, makes calls, gets sued under the TCPA.

Ok ok you’ve heard THAT one before.

But then company sues lead seller for indemnity and lead seller doesn’t show up in court. Company seeks default judgment against lead seller.

What result?

Well in Jackson v. Renu, 2025 WL 1162491 (M.D. Pa. April 21, 2025) the Court held no judgment against the seller is possible until the underlying TCPA defendant actually tasted defeat in the TCPA case.

In Jackson the contractual agreement between ReNu and TechMedia called upon TechMedia to comply with the TCPA and indemnify ReNu for any judgment that was entered against it. But since no judgment has yet been entered against ReNu the Court found TechMedia did not yet owe ReNu indemnity.

Ouch.

Notably the judgment probably could have (should have) asked for recovery of attorneys fees but apparently ReNu’s lawyers didn’t advise the court of whether ReNu had chose its own lawyers to defend it or those chosen by TechMedia. So NO award was entered at all.

My goodness.

Setting aside the potential screw up here, Jackson underscores a huge problem with indemnity agreements in lead generation. Lead buyers often assume such agreements make them bullet proof against suit.

Ridiculous.

The lead buyer that made the call is always the first one to be sued and a mere indemnity agreement does not mean the buyer will be out of the case. AT BEST it means the lead buyer will recover money against the leas seller one day. But as Jackson points out that “one day” is usually after the lead buyer has already faced a potentially massive judgment.

Not good.

Relying on indemnity agreements in lead gen contracts is NOT a smart path folks. Yes, you still need to include those terms in your contracts but VETTING your vendors and working with QUALITY PARTNERS you can trust (preferably those that abide by the R.E.A.C.H. standards) is essential.

We will be discussing this issue during our LeadGen panel at Law Conference of Champions III in July, with some of the biggest names in the space on the panel. Be there!

Show is getting pretty close to sold out now so get your tickets ASAP if you plan on coming. Don’t see tickets being available past mid-May.

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. With the way that lead generators’ names are affixed on their office door with Velcro, another problem lead buyers (deservedly) face is that, should judgment come down on the lead gen, the lead gen merely changes the name plate on the office door and becomes judgment proof. And, of course, off shore lead gens are, for the most part, judgment proof to begin with, since the long arm of the law does not reach beyond the USA border. By the way, Czar, are there ANY R.E.A.C.H. members that are located off shore? Perhaps that should be an important point: Lead buyers would do well to ensure that their lead generators are R.E.A.C.H. members; at least those lead generators have better credibility and less likelihood to get lead buyers hauled into court.

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