Class Actions – TCPAWorld

Class Actions…

What? No Sampling!?

Oof. Another defendant hit with an order compelling it to produce a HUGE amount of data. Such is the sad state of affairs as delineated in Bustillos v. W. Covina…

Class Actions…

TCPA QUICK HITTER: Another Federal Court Stays Discovery While Dispositive Motions are Pending

One more federal court has come out against proceeding with expensive and potentially unnecessary class discovery pending the resolution of dispositive motions. The facts are straightforward: In Silva v. Connected…

Motion to Dismiss DENIED! Cell Phones Can Be Residential Numbers for DNC Claims

31 Aug 202131 Aug 2021

Facing a TCPA class action, it is tempting to try anything and everything to defeat the case on the pleadings. And, of course, there are sometimes ways to do so.…

Class Actions…

TCPAWorld’s Own Dr. Evil?: Inventor of TCPA Lawsuit Manufacturing App Gathers Massive Amounts of Data Scraped from Porch Website—Now Claims Company Owes Plaintiffs $10 Billion Dollars

20 Aug 202123 Aug 2021

Editor's Note: Sara is the newest member of the powerful TCPAWorld team. Licensed in three states and with a decade of complex litigation experience under her belt our new Marcioness…

ATDS/Predictive Dialer Cases…

A Win and a Loss (but Mostly a Win!) Court Grants Motion to Dismiss on Vicarious Liability Theory

18 Aug 202118 Aug 2021

Earlier this week, a court in New Jersey handed green energy company, Suntuity, a win and a loss on its motion to dismiss. The case is about a putative nationwide…

ATDS/Predictive Dialer Cases…

CRUISING TO A WIN: Another Court Rejects FN7 Argument—Dismisses TCPA Complaint at the Pleadings Stage in Marketing Suit

16 Aug 202118 Aug 2021

Editor's Note: Big welcome to Sam--another tremendous addition to our powerful team! Be sure to check out the Facebook Ruling Resource Page for an up to date case list of post-Facebook…

Class Actions…

Trouble for TCPA Plaintiffs in Baton Rouge–Court Denies Class Certification, Twice!

There are some useful takeaways for class action litigators from a recent decision out of the Middle District of Louisiana. Taylor Carroll Sgs Auto. Servs., CIVIL ACTION 16-537-SDD-RLB, 2021 U.S.…

Plaintiff Cannot Dodge Arbitration Agreement Where He Used Credit Card After Receiving Terms

22 Jun 202122 Jun 2021

Enforcing an arbitration clause is not always easy. For instance, a court recently denied defendant's motion to compel arbitration where the plaintiff swore he never visited the defendant's website. While the…

Class Actions…

Stunning Decision from West Virginia: Common Carriers Can Be Liable for TCPA Violations on Their Network

3 May 20215 May 2021

Platforms, carriers, and anyone else worried about TCPA liability should pay close attention to a recent decision out of West Virginia. Daina Mey sued several common carriers--including CenturyLink and Level…

No Coverage for Common Law Claims “Arising Out Of” Alleged TCPA Violations

TCPA lawsuits are expensive. So when Colorado company Mesa Laboratories, Inc. faced a class action for its unsolicited faxes promoting dental-industry-related services, it turned to its insurance company for coverage.…

Court Dismisses Nationwide TCPA Class Action as Not Plausible–Even with Defendants Facing Wire Fraud Charges for Millions of RoboCalls!

A plaintiff must allege his injury with some plausibility to move forward with TCPA claims, even for claims against a TCPA scofflaw. That is the lesson from a recent opinion…

Court Stays Within the Four Corners–No Dismissal Despite Compelling Evidence of Consent

As law students learn during their first civil procedure course, courts generally take factual allegations "as true." This gives the plaintiff "a full opportunity to conduct discovery and thereby uncover…

Class Actions…

Junk Fax Class Action Survives Dismissal–Leaves Critical First Amendment Issues for Another Day

15 Mar 202115 Mar 2021

Sometimes what the Court does not address is the most interesting issue in an opinion. That's the case we are covering today. Scoma v. National Spine & Pain Centers, LLC,…

ATDS/Human Intervention…

A Pyrrhic Victory? D. Mass Adopts Marks And Holds A Text Is A Call

12 Mar 202112 Mar 2021

In what could be a very short-lived victory for the plaintiff, the District of Massachusetts just adopted the Marks ATDS formulation and held that a text is a call. See…

Class Actions…

Pharmacy Obtains Dismissal of TCPA Class Under Emergency Exception For Communicating COVID-19 Procedures

8 Mar 202115 Mar 2021

The TCPA does not prohibit all calls or texts. Among other exceptions, it carves out calls or texts made for an emergency purpose. The FCC has determined that Congress intended…

Venue Matters: California Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Attempt To Manufacture Venue And Dismisses Action Outright

8 Mar 20218 Mar 2021

In class action litigation – particularly TCPA class actions – procedural fights can be more important than substantive merits. And a recent decision from the Eastern District of California highlighted…

Partial Win for Company Facing Nationwide ATDS Class Action: Court cannot Exercise Personal Jurisdiction Over Out-of-State Named Plaintiffs, but Arbitration Clause “Unconscionable” and ATDS Allegations Sufficient

Facing a nationwide TCPA class action for calls allegedly made using an ATDS, DirecTV sought partial dismissal on multiple grounds: (1) the lack of personal jurisdiction over certain named plaintiffs;…

ATDS/Human Intervention…

Out With The Old, In With The New: Archduke’s 2021 TCPA Predictions

4 Jan 20215 Jan 2021

Welcome to 2021, TCPAWorld. May it be slightly less terrible than 2020. And on that note, here are my predictions for the TCPA and calling regulations in 2021. 1) Increase…

Michigan Court Refuses to Dismiss Fax Case on Pleadings Despite Agreeing that Fax Did not Describe Anything “Bought or Sold”

The TCPA only prohibits "advertisements" sent using a fax machine. So if a fax is not an advertisement, there is no liability. Simple, right? Not always. In a nuanced and…

No Double Recovery by Class Members: Revocation Class Stricken as Duplicative of No Consent Class

29 Oct 202029 Oct 2020

As abusive as the TCPA’s statutory damages of $500-$1,500.00 per call, some courts struggle with whether that recovery should be even higher. It is not uncommon for Plaintiffs to look…

Class Actions…

Ignoring TCPA Class Action is a BAD Strategy

6 Oct 20206 Oct 2020

We get it. TCPA class actions cause headaches, or worse. Courts agree. The Eleventh Circuit recently described the in terrorem character of the TCPA class action, observing the "pressure to…

Despite Agreement, No Arbitration! Hawaii District Court Declines to Enforce Arbitration Clause Against Non-Party Debt Collector

For nearly a century, federal law has favored arbitration where the parties agree to it. This rule typically extends to a "nonsignatory" who does not sign the contract but who…

Class Actions…

“Threadbare Allegations” not Enough to Prosecute a TCPA Claim

Pleading a TCPA claim is usually not the tricky part for a plaintiff, and courts normally do not dismiss TCPA lawsuits on the pleadings alone. But a recent decision provides…

ATDS/Predictive Dialer Cases…

Missed Marks: Court Transfers Carpet Bagging TCPA Class for Improper Attempt to Bend Venue Rules to Take Advantage of 9th Circuit Case Law

26 May 202028 May 2020

As TCPAWorld is well aware, the 9th Circuit’s Marks decision broadly defines what constitutes an ATDS under the TCPA. And, of course, this decision has led plaintiffs to seek out…

Class Actions…

“Be Sure to Order it”: PETA and Beyond Meat Embroiled in New Multi-Million Dollar TCPA Class Action For Robotexts Pushing Fake Meat

19 Mar 202022 Mar 2020

While TCPA filings are slowing down a bit—like everything else lately—the rules governing telemarketing text messages have not softened an ounce. Mass blast marketing messages remain subject to the TCPA—at…

When In Doubt, Wait for Clarity: Another Court Stays a TCPA Case Pending Supreme Court’s Review of Constitutionality of TCPA

26 Feb 202027 Feb 2020

As the Czar just explained yesterday, the big SCOTUS TCPA review is likely to have profound impact on the scope of the TCPA--and possibly our freedom to speak more broadly. Following…

ATDS/Human Intervention…

Radio Clash: Czar Joins NPR’s “On Point” Live Christmas Eve at 10 AM Eastern/7 AM Pacific

23 Dec 201922 Mar 2020

For those of you looking for entertainment on your holiday drive, look no further than NPR's live call-in show, "On Point," at 10 AM Eastern/7 AM Pacific. The Czar will…

Seeking Court’s Approval of Class Settlement? Try Again!

After an initial failure to obtain court’s preliminary approval of class settlement in a total sum of six million dollars, the parties filed another motion seeking approval of settlement in…

Settlement Reveals How Expensive the TCPA is Compared to Other Consumer Statutes

3 Dec 20194 Dec 2019

If you're reading TCPAWorld.com you know the TCPA is no ordinary statute. And rather obviously TCPA class litigation matters are among the biggest and most complex cases out there. While…

Class Actions…

This is HUGE! Eleventh Circuit Holds That Court Abuses Its Discretion Certifying a TCPA Case Containing Uninjured Class Members

18 Nov 201919 Nov 2019

For those of you that hate hearing me talk about being right all the time, probably stop reading this one now. One of the messiest splits of authority in the…

Class Members Thought They Would Get $900, but End Up With $22

15 Nov 201919 Dec 2019

Imagine expecting to receive a $900.00 settlement payday only to walk away with a check for 22 bucks! That’s what happened in Charvat v. Valente, No. 12-cv-05746, 2019 U.S. Dist.…

Class Actions…

Big TCPA Win For Debt Collector—Court Refuses to Certify TCPA Case Against Debt Collector Allegedly Calling Wrong Numbers Because Data Lies and So Do People

7 Oct 20198 Oct 2019

TCPAWorld followers have heard me crow a time or two about my big win in Tillman in which my client defeated certification in a TCPA wrong number code class case…

Class Actions…

Unmask The Real Class: Latest Disastrous TCPA Discovery Decision Shows Why Moving to Strike Class Allegations is So Essential

16 Sep 201917 Sep 2019

I’ve said it a hundred times—do not let failsafe class definitions or overly broad classes slip past the pleadings stage in TCPA class actions. Doing so sets you up for…

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