“BACKWARDS”: #BigLaw Loses Another TCPA Suit In Embarrassing Fashion (GenAI?)– Will American Businesses Figure This Out Soon?

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Imagine a court telling your attorney he has things “backward.” Well that just happened to Clarity Debt Relief because it chose to be represented by #biglaw in a TCPA class action and it did not go well.

Let’s face it– #biglaw lawyers don’t have the focus and specialization to succeed in TCPAWorld. Plus their reliance on #AiSlop instead of masterful legal research and writing keeps hurting them.

For instance in Durham v. Clarity Debt Resolution, 2026 WL 2970190 (M.D Tenn. Oct. 2, 2026) Clarity hired a #biglaw firm to represent it and, unsurprisingly, disaster unfolded.

First defendants argued they are not vicariously liable for the calls at issue but Clarity was alleged to have been on the calls at the time they were made and provided Aspire’s agreement. Then Aspire was asked to stop the calls at 60 more calls were made.  As the court put it: “The court need not conduct a detailed agency analysis to conclude that, as alleged, Aspire ratified the allegedly unlawful telemarketing calls.”

Eesh. Not good.

But it gets so much worse.

The #biglaw firm tried to argue the calls were made with consent because the Plaintiff interacted with the calls. But as the court stated:

 “This argument gets things backwards.”

Ouch.

The Court goes on to explain: “The fact that Durham answered a phone call and spoke to Clarity’s representative does not constitute retroactive consent to have received the call.”

I mean…. yeah. Was it GenAi’s idea to argue consent can be applied retroactively?

Hard to say. But their website is utterly tone deaf on the subject and BRAGS about their use of GenAi in the practice of law: “we deploy a robust suite of machine learning and generative AI tools that empower our attorneys to… Draft legal documents with greater speed and accuracy.”

Good lord, how are these folks still in business? No wonder they keep getting smoked. They’re letting software write their briefs.

Anyhoo, the Court went on to deny Defendant’s motion to strike the class and stay discovery.

Just a complete loss top to bottom. Terrible.

Take aways here are pretty straightforward: hire #biglaw, expect a #bigloss.

If you want to WIN be sure to educate yourself on developments– and a great way to do that is to tune in to the WEEKLY Deserve to Win podcast where we break down all of the biggest TCPA developments from the week before. Plus we have great interviews with guests relevant to the TCPAWorld. Catch Episode 52 with Plaintiff’s lawyer Ilan Lavian right now:

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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