In Lucas v. Total Security Vision, Inc., 2018 WL 4519896 (S.D.Ohio), 4 (S.D.Ohio, 2018), Judge Bowman agreed that “excessive fines” was not an appropriate affirmative defense in a TCPA case.
Plaintiff seeks to strike Defendants’ constitutional arguments that TCPA damages are an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment. (Doc. 32, ¶32). This Court previously agreed in another case filed by Plaintiff. See Lucas v. Desilva, Case No. 1:16-cv-790 (S.D. Ohio) (holding that statutory damages to an individual litigant under the TCPA and OCSPA do not constitute an “excessive fine” or violation of “due process” as a matter of law, and that such defenses should be stricken). The lone Eighth Circuit case cited by Defendants, Capital Records, Inc. v. Thomas-Rasset, 692 F.3d 899, 907 (8th Cir. 2012), is not to the contrary.