JACKPOT: TCPA Settlement Claimants to Receive $3,787 Each in Telemarketing Text Message Case–And What is Going On Here?

2 Comments

I remember back when TCPA claimants in class litigation would recover $40-60 following a class action settlement– and that was considered a windfall!

Back in my day, when Troutman agreed to a class settlement it was for $4-6.00 a class member, and those were prerecorded robocall cases!

Well, let’s just say the price of TCPA settlements keep rising despite the efforts of Troutman Amin, LLP and TCPAWorld to help educate defense lawyers.  But as companies keep FOOLISHLY hiring  #biglaw attorneys–and others–who have no idea how to handle TCPA class litigation the results are endlessly terrible.

I think I’d like to investigate how law firms that DON’T have TCPA expertise keep getting hired to defend TCPA class actions, BTW. Seems like there ought to be some sort of speciality recognized by the ABA. Maybe I’ll look into that.

For now though let’s examine the settlement in Eric Geaslin v. Colony Ridge Development, LLC.

There, defendant agreed to pay a total of $1,994,123.00 to resolve the TCPA DNC claims of individuals who claimed they received telemarketing SMS messages.

Pause.

Yes, there is a huge split as to whether SMS messages are subject to the TCPA rules at all– so why settle?

Pause again.

Yes, some courts have held DNC class actions cannot be certified at all– so why settle?

Pause again again.

If you are going to settle–why settle for a record-breaking amount if you have ANY idea what you’re doing?

So check this out, the class definition is:

All persons throughout the United States (1) to whom Colony Ridge Development,
LLC d/b/a Terrenos Santa Fe delivered, or caused to be delivered, more than one
text message within a 12-month period, promoting Colony Ridge Development,
LLC d/b/a Terrenos Santa Fe’s or its business partners’ goods or services, (2) where
the person’s residential telephone number had been registered with the National Do
Not Call Registry for at least thirty days before Colony Ridge Development, LLC
d/b/a Terrenos Santa Fe delivered, or caused to be delivered, at least two of the text
messages within the 12-month period, (3) whose residential telephone numbers are
included in the Settlement Class Data, (4) between June 27, 2020 and May 7, 2025.

And apparently there were about 10,750 class members at the outset. So the Defendant agreed to pay about $186.00 a class member. Eesh.

But it gets worse.

Only 333 people made valid claims. So these folks are in for a massive cash payday– nearly $3,800.00 each! For checking their mailbox and returning a claim form after receiving a couple of text messages.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers here will receive about $600k– and maybe they earned it given this ridiculous award.

Not sure the defense lawyers earned their fee… but whatever.

Want to make sure you don’t end up VASTLY overpaying in a TCPA class action settlement? Probably retain Troutman Amin, LLP.

Otherwise be sure to educate yourself (and your counsel) by attending Law Conference of Champions IV May 4-6. 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.

2 Comments

  1. My guess is some of these firms are on the company’s insurance provider’s approved attorney panel and they just go with whomever the insurance company assigns. When I was in-house at an insurance group, I rarely saw a request to use an attorney not on the list. Plus, insurance companies take the cost over quality approach. They would use a butcher to get a circumcision to avoid paying a medical doctor’s rate.

    Reply

    1. When good counsel costs $∞.∞∞ dollars per hour, only those who can afford ∞ get the best representation. The rest of those go with the insurance carriers’ insurance carrier who then does whatever they can to achieve a di minimis settlement value, missing the big picture items, such as setting precedent.

      I know, because I’ve often been insurance carrier’s approved expert, and I’ve seen it. Defendants suffer the consequences, and precedent gets set and all other future defendants are henceforth conscripted to the outcomes of lesser counsel.

      While I understand that some attorneys can charge $∞ per hour, the others are ascribed to regular ¢ per-hour charging attorneys, the consequences of which are self-evident.

      So now the $∞ attorneys have to deal with the inevitability of the results of the ¢ per hour insurance attorneys. And here we are.

      -Not an attorney-

      Reply

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