EARLY DISCOVERY DENIED: Court Turns Down TCPA Plaintiff’s Request for Call Scripts Ahead of a Motion to Dismiss

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Interesting one for this December Friday.

In Bell v. Hawx 2025 WL 3677347 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 18, 2025) a defendant’s motion to dismiss had been granted because the plaintiff had failed to allege sufficient facts about the calls at issue.

Plaintiff filed an amended complaint and added more facts but also requested early discovery to obtain a copy of the call transcripts for the calls made on behalf of the defendant to permit Plaintiff to allege further facts and defeat the motion to dismiss.

The court denied the request for early discovery finding it was contrary to the general rule that discovery commences only after a Rule 26(f), which had not yet occurred.

The court found plaintiff had not shown good cause to open discovery since reciting a line-by-line transcript of the calls was not necessary to state a claim and since the grant of discovery would delay the ruling on the motion to dismiss.

Can’t say I disagree here. A plaintiff is supposed to have sufficient facts to state a claim before filing suit. Using discovery to prove a viable claim exists is a misuse of the litigation process– you have to have a good faith basis for factual pleading before commencing suit per Rule 11.

Will keep an eye on this.

Also spoke with a reporter for the WSJ yesterday who was interested in talking with the attorney with the highest hourly rate in the nation. Given the incredibly high stakes and complexity of the TCPAWorld it was easy for her to understand why the Czar is so incredibly sought after (and, therefore, expensive.)

But YOU don’t have to overpay for the Czar’s services. Retain Troutman Amin, LLP now– like RIGHT NOW–and save as our rates rise (alot) January 1, 2026!

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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