HEART & SOIL GETS DUNKED ON IN TCPA SUIT: TCPA Defendant’s Counterclaim Tossed as “Redundant” As Gerald Lane Cruises to Win

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Law Conference of Champions V ticket prices as I type: $459.00 (and rising.)

I always lived by the mantra: you can say a lot of things about me but you can never say I’m boring.

So it is with our legal practice at Troutman Amin, LLP. We dream up new ideas all the time– and have a ton of first-in-the-nation wins as a result. And you can never say our arguments are dull– or redundant.

But that was not the case for a TCPA defendant facing a class action in So. Cal. this week. And they got absolutely dunked on by bulk-filer Gerald Lane.

In Bathersfield v. Heart & Soil Supplements, 2026 WL 3259806 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2026) the defendant tried to bring a counterclaim against the plaintiff for breach of contract and declaratory relief.

Now the breach of contract claim should have stuck to some degree– the plaintiff had agreed to terms indemnifying the defendant for any losses arising out of his violation of the terms and conditions of the website where he submitted his webform.  Arguably his lawsuit violated the terms of the agreement. So this claim probably should have stuck around.

But there was a problem.

Rather than just plead a breach of contract claim the defendant decided to bring a “redundant” declaratory relief claim asking the court to rule on several legal issues underlying the Plaintiff’s claim– but the court would do that anyway in determining the merits of the actual lawsuit.

In essence the defendant was trying to pig out– it wanted to waste the court’s time dealing with a separate vehicle to answer questions IT wanted answered despite the fact those issues were already going to be addressed in the main suit.

And that got the ball rolling.

Once the court granted a rare motion to strike the counterclaim– finding it was wholly redundant of the main action– it didn’t stop there. It went on to throw out the entire breach of contract claim as well.

Eesh. Tough (unnecessary) loss.

Plus this was Gerald Lane winning again! When Gerald Lane gets your entire counterclaim struck you know there’s a problem. I’m not saying he’s a bad lawyer. Just saying he’s not a guy that should be dunking on people like this.

Eesh again.

Just goes to show, don’t be boring (or redundant.)

Law Conference of Champions is NEVER boring and you can expect LCOC V to be INSANE. Lining up some fantastic new speakers and wait until you find out who the keynote is…. 🙂 Not announcing that until February. By then ticket prices will be around $1,500.00. Today they are just $459.00! So get your ticket now and save a ton.

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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