SHIFT: Court Orders Plaintiff to Pay for Cost of Massive Discovery Production Required From Duke Energy–And Its a Start

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So Troutman Amin, LLP won ANOTHER huge discovery ruling yesterday, keeping up its perfect track record of avoiding large scale class discovery productions.

But really no other firm has been so “lucky.”

It isn’t luck, of course, its properly crafting objections and demonstrating burden in a world where Rule 26 gives Defendants a fighting chance to avoid large-scale productions despite the broad scope of discovery.

This isn’t a story about Troutman Amin, LLP‘s golden victories–although our rates do rise Jan. 1, 2026 so make sure you engage quickly– this is a story of a silver medal sort.

In Mable v. Duke Energy, 2025 WL 3535057 (N.D. Fl. Nov. 18, 2025) the court overrule most of Duke’s objections and compelled a massive production consisting of for the period from September 17, 2020 through October 31, 2025, (over five years!) the following documents:

(a) Records showing all prerecorded calls placed by the defendant;
(b) The defendant’s “do not use” record—the record described in the briefing as including roughly 13,000 telephone numbers;
(c) The Swamp Fox data set;
(d) The SAP data set of outgoing calls.

Lots and lots.

Bad!

BUT the court also required PLAINTIFF to pay for the production:

The plaintiff must pay the cost of the production, including the cost of employee time and of systems usage as would be calculated by a cost accountant, as well as expert or contractor fees and expenses, but limited to cost reasonably incurred for this work, and not including attorney’s fees.

Good!

This ruling makes total sense as the US Supreme Court has held a PLAINTIFF must pay for the cost of notice to the class and this sort of class discovery is designed to identify those class members. Further, it makes no sense for a defendant to bear the cost of expensive discovery in a suit whose merits have not been determined.

Would like to see more cases like this– although actually I would like to see more cases where defendants win these fights and Plaintiff is denied these data sets (which they don’t actually need anyway.)

Remember Troutman Amin, LLP rates rise Jan 1 and the Czar will be out of the office starting December 20, 2025 so…. RETAIN US NOW AND SAVE THOUSANDS!

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.

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