TIPPED OFF?: Perrong Irritates a Magistrate Judge and Law360 Takes Notice For Some Reason

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Usually I am the only one covering oddball TCPA-related stories.

But this past week Law360– a major aggregator/reporter of legal news– took note of a text order issued by a magistrate judge in Virginia.

The order stated repeat TCPA litigator turned TCPA plaintiff’s attorney Andrew Perrong had filed a brief with no “legitimate basis.”

It is kind of a funny order because Perrong filed a reply after the court had already ruled on the motion he was trying to support. This prompted the following ruling from the court:

TEXT ORDER striking 28 Response. Via Text Order dated 04/17/2025, the Court “den[ied] without prejudice 25 Motion for Expedited Resolution of Discovery Dispute.” Nonetheless, on 04/22/205, Plaintiff filed 28 Response to 25 Motion. As Plaintiff’s counsel surely must have understood when filing 28 Response, no legitimate basis exists to file a response to a motion on which the Court already has ruled. Accordingly, the Court has stricken 28 Response. Filing documents that lack a legitimate basis may subject the filing party and/or its counsel to sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. Additionally, the Court notes that one of Plaintiff’s counsel of record appears specially in this case. Further filings lacking a legitimate basis shall constitute grounds for revoking authorization to appear specially. Issued by MAG/JUDGE L. PATRICK AULD on 04/23/2025. (AULD, L.) (Entered: 04/23/2025)

Interesting, and not the best look for Perrong– who has already pissed off plenty of judges in the past.

But what I can’t figure out is how Law360 picked this up to begin with.

I mean this is not a published ruling. It didn’t get reported by Westlaw or Lexis. Its just a text order on a throw away brief. Yet it made a headline in a major news publication.

Either the reporter is carefully following Perrong’ antics–which I respect– or he was tipped off.

I know a newsman never reveals his secrets so I didn’t reach out to Ryan to ask, but to me the story here is the story OF the story. And I love that sort of thing.

Story here: https://www.law360.com/pulse/articles/2329207/print?section=pulse/daily-litigation

Perrong requested I include the additional “comment” on the article. Per Perrong:

The Court had scheduled a conference to discuss the status of the litigation in response to the Defendants’ denied motion. Plaintiff desired to clarify the underlying basis and procedural history of the denied motion, and intends to address the instant filing at the conference.

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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.

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