EXPANDING: TCPA Suit Against Compass, Inc. Amended to Add New Theories and It Doesn’t Look Good

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Its never a good sign when a Plaintiff’s lawyer adds additional claims to a pending TCPA class action– and an even worse sign when the Court let’s them do it.

In Cribier v. Compass, Inc., 2026 WL 2280654 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 7, 2026) the plaintiff moved to amend their DNC TCPA class action complaint to add a new claim related to prerecorded calls and a new class of individuals who received such calls. This is a HUGE deal because prerecorded calls carry a higher penalty– an automatic $500-$1,500.00 per call–and also are not subject to the bona fide error defense. So this is a massive expansion of the case with real potential to expand exposure faced by the defendant.

The Defendant opposed the motion but the court held they focused on the wrong standard and that the opposition otherwise lacked merit.

First the court determined the filing was not frivolous or futile. Facially the claim set forth a proper cause of action for violation of the TCPA’s 227(b) provisions. Although defendant claimed consent and vicarious liability issues will result in the claim failing at the pleadings stage the allegations alone are what’s examined. And those allegations were sufficient.

The defendant also claimed the amendment was brought in “bad faith” but the court found there was merely a factual dispute as to whether or not there was consent to make the call–and that’s not bad faith. As a result the court permitted the amendment to proceed.

The net result is Compass is now facing a very different–and far more dangerous claim related to prerecorded calls than it was previously dealing with. Not a good day at the office for these folks.

We’ll keep an eye on this.

And you should keep an eye on the Deserve to Win podcast! Dropping Episode 45 with Cyle Coffman and the Wizard today~!!!

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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