In Newman v. GM Financial, Judge Sabraw issued an Order Denying Preliminary Approval rejecting a proposed TCPA class settlement in part on the basis that disparately situated classmembers with different damages claims would obtain the same settlement sums under the class settlement and, due to the claims-made procedure, it was unclear what that sum would be anyway. A class action settlement may be… Read More
In Friedman v. Torchmark Corp., 2013 WL 1629084 (S.D.Cal. 2013), Judge Gonzalez found auto-dialed calls to a consumer about a “recruiting webinar” “wherein Plaintiff could learn about [Defendant's] products and services in order to sell said products and services to other Americans who are in need of health or other similar insurance policies” was not a prohibited ‘unsolicited advertisement’ under… Read More
Ed.: to my TCPA readers, this case has it all . . . In Jamison v. First Credit Services, Inc. --- F.R.D. ----, 2013 WL 1248306 (N.D.Ill. 2013), Judge Kendall denied a motion for class certification in TCPA case. Plaintiff was a convicted felon. He pled guilty in 2008 to access device fraud. Specifically, he was part of a scheme to steal credit… Read More
In Knutson v. Schwan's Home Service, Inc., 2013 WL 1222116 (S.D.Cal. 2013), Judge Bartick ordered class-wide discovery on ‘prior express consent’ under the TCPA. Plaintiffs have requested information relating to Defendant's affirmative defense of “prior express consent.” Plaintiffs predict Defendant will assert this defense in opposition to class certification. Plaintiffs argue they will need the information to prepare a response… Read More
In Coppock v. Citigroup, Inc., 2013 WL 1192632 (W.D.Wash. 2013), Judge Coughenour granted a Petition to Compel Arbitration in a TCPA/FDCPA class action. The arbitration agreement clearly covers the TCPA and FDCPA claims. Citi made the calls to collect a debt it thought Coppock owed on her credit card account. Her claims based on those calls are thus “[c]laims relating… Read More
We previously reported on the Thrasher-Lyon v. CCS Commercial LLC case, and its interlocutory appeal to the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Appellants have filed their opening brief here. Read More
In Nelson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2013 WL 1141009 (W.D.Wis. 2013), Judge Snyder found that ‘preview dialing’ triggered the TCPA. The facts were as follows: Beginning in March or April 2010 defendant Santander Consumer USA, Inc., an automobile finance company, began making calls to 608–512–xxxx in an attempt to collect the debt from those loans. At… Read More
In Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, LLC, 2013 WL 951497 (W.D.N.Y. 2013), Judge Skretny granted summary judgment to a debt collector on Plaintiff’s FDCPA and TCPA claims. As to the FDCPA claim, Judge Skretny found no actionable telephonic harassment. Defendant correctly asserts that, under the circumstances of this case, the 72 phone calls in a nine-month period are insufficient as… Read More
In Boyd v. General Revenue Corp., 2013 WL 866944 (M.D.Tenn. 2013), Judge Haynes held that the TCPA does not regulate manually dialed calls to cellular telephones. Plaintiff's TCPA claims are that: (1) Defendants willfully and knowingly violated the TCPA by placing forty-two (42) telephone calls using an auto-dialer to Plaintiff's cellular telephone, as Plaintiff is registered with the Federal Do… Read More
In Shea v. BBVA Compass Bancshares, Inc., 2013 WL 869526 (S.D.Fla. 2013), Judge Moore ordered a TCPA text-message class action to arbitration, finding that the TCPA claim was within the scope of the arbitration clause and the arbitration clause survived the termination of the contractual relationship between the parties. Here, this Court finds clear and unmistakable evidence of the… Read More
In Cayanan v. Citi Holdings, Inc., 2013 WL 784662 (S.D.Cal. 2013), Judge Anello ordered TCPA class actions to arbitration finding that the Arbitration clause in loan agreements were not both procedurally and substantively unconscionable and that the TCPA claims fell within the language of the arbitration agreements. Plaintiffs Elsie Cayanan, Kimberly Baker, and Jesse McKay filed a putative class action… Read More
In Kristensen v. Credit Payment Services Inc., 2013 WL 686492 (D.Nev. 2013), Judge Dawson found that Plaintiff’s bald recitation of the elements of a text-message TCPA claim was sufficient to survive an FRCP 12(b)(6) Motion. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that Defendant Credit Payment Services Inc. (“Defendant”), directly or through its agents, caused or directed unsolicited SMS text messages to be sent… Read More
GroupMe and the Cargo Airline Association have filed Petitions to the FCC, asking the FCC to re-visit its definition of autodialer and whether consent can be given by someone other than the called party. See the GroupMe Notice of Req for Comment by FCC, US Chamber of Commerce's Comments to the Petition, and a Notice of Ex Parte Meeting with FCC filed by… Read More
In Gomez v. Campbell-Ewald Co., 2013 WL 655237 (C.D.Cal. 2013), Judge Gee found that a claim against a contractor that sent text messages to cellular telephone as part of the US Navy’s marketing campaign fell within the TCPA’s 4-year federal catch-all statute of limitations. In its motion for judgment on the pleadings, Defendant contends that Plaintiff's claim is time-barred by… Read More
In Swope v. Credit Management, LP, 2013 WL 607830 (E.D.Mo. 2013), Judge Perry followed Soppett, holding that an unanticipated receiver of autodialed calls to a cellular telephone had standing to pursue a TCPA claim. The facts were as follows: According to the complaint, defendant obtained an account receivable by Charter Communications and began making phone calls to collect the debt.… Read More
In Wellington Homes, Inc. v. West Dundee China Palace Restaurant, Inc., --- N.E.2d ----, 2013 IL App (2d) 120740, 2013 WL 414236 (Ill.App. 2 Dist. 2013), the Illinois Court of Appeal found that the 4-year federal catch-all statute of limitations applies to TCPA actions, not shorter state-court statutes of limitations. This interlocutory appeal pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 308… Read More
In Schaefer v. First Source Advantage, LLC, 2013 WL 509001 (E.D.Mo. 2013), Judge Shaw found that a TCPA Plaintiff who re-opened his bankruptcy to list the asset gained standing to pursue it, but was estopped from bringing it. If a debtor fails to list an asset in his bankruptcy schedules, that asset is not automatically abandoned back to the debtor… Read More
In Lee v. Stonebridge Life Ins. Co., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2013 WL 542854 (N.D.Cal. 2013), Judge Seeborg certified a TCPA-text message class based on the following facts. In this putative class action, plaintiff alleges that defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 227 et seq. (“TCPA”), by sending unsolicited text messages to consumers' cell phones. Plaintiff seeks… Read More
In Moore v. CCB Credit Services, Inc., 2013 WL 211048 (E.D.Mo. 2013), Judge Sippel found no actionable FDCPA harassment, but held the matter over for trial on the issue of consent and charges for calls under the TCPA. The District Court found that the number of calls did not amount to actionable harassment: It is undisputed that CCB made 65… Read More
In Gragg v. Orange Cab Co., Inc., 2013 WL 195466 (W.D.Wash. 2013), Judge Lasnik found that Plaintiff’s TCPA failed under Iqbal/Twombly due to failure to plead an ATDS. However, Judge Lasnik set forth the standards for what a Plaintiff would have to allege to properly plead use of an ATDS. The Plaintiff alleges that he received an unsolicited text message… Read More
