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More TCPA defensive ball – avoiding getting entrapped in a counterclaim while suing for illegal telemarketing calls
I discussed in this post what is driving many of the unwanted telemarketing phone calls, but one source I left out is just the creativity of fraudsters. Many websites pay affiliate marketers for driving traffic to a website that results in “someone” signing up, giving over their phone number, and asking for telemarketing calls. It’s…
Stick the landing part 2 – Telemarketers vs Sellers
Lawsuit Woodard v. Health Insurance Alliance, 2024 WL 942629 (N.D. Ill. March 5, 2024) illustrates a difficulty some TCPA plaintiffs have in suing multiple parties for the same calls. One of those difficulties can be describing telemarketers vs sellers in TCPA lawsuits. This Plaintiff received calls from a third party promoting HIA’s products and she…
Debt collectors threatening to sue over time barred debit is a FDCPA violation
Have you received a lawsuit or a threat to sue over a very old debt? So did Michael Kaiser. He purchased a car with the usual monthly payments but eventually could not keep up with the payments. The car was repo’ed and sold but he was upside down so the sale didn’t cover the loan…
Exempt Property in Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy exemptions are laws that protect certain types of property from being seized by creditors during bankruptcy proceedings. These exemptions vary widely by jurisdiction, but they serve the essential purpose of allowing individuals to retain basic necessities and some assets to help them rebuild their financial lives post-bankruptcy. Common Types of Exempt Property Federal vs….
Earning treble statutory TCPA damages for willful or knowing telemarketing violations
We all know that 47 U.S. Code § 227(c) provides statutory damages of up to $500 per violation, and 47 U.S. Code § 227(b) provides statutory damages of $500 per violation. These damages may be trebled if “the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this subsection”. Given that some judges don’t like…
Stick the landing – Court rules TCPA Lawsuits should allege facts of TCPA violations
A Western District of North Carolina Court just gave a primer on how to make proper allegations when multiple parties are involved in TCPA violating phone calls to consumers. Pro se plaintiff Craig Cunningham sued six named defendants for TCPA violations and four of them moved to dismiss. They of course tried the usual professional…
Michigan Federal Court gives guidance on proving your vicarious liability TCPA claim
On 1/19/2024 a Michigan Federal Court gave guidance on how to prove your vicarious liability TCPA lawsuit. It is from lawsuit Dobronski v. Family First Life, LLC et al, No. 2:2022cv12039. Mark sued 17 different defendants for 13 causes of action. Predictably the defendants did not care for this at all and each of them…
Playing a little defensive ball as a TCPA plaintiff
First, this post is not knocking anyone. Most telemarketing recipients are not experts and telemarketing laws are generally intended to be enforced by ordinary citizens. Hopefully we all learn from the mistakes of others. It is no surprise telemarketers hate TCPA plaintiffs. If you read telemarketing propaganda, they believe they have a god given right…
Getting them all – how to pull the seller the telemarketer is calling for into your local court for telemarketing violations
In telemarketing lingo the “seller” is the entity who is actually trying to sell you stuff, and the “telemarketer” is the entity actually ringing your phone. In a few cases they are one and the same but in most cases the telemarketer is sitting in India or Pakistan and the seller is often a “reputable”…
Where are all these illegal telemarketing calls coming from? And why you should sue them.
If you are wondering where all these illegal telemarketing calls are coming from physically, most of the dialers sit in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. It is common for one call center to dial the phones. Answered calls to be transferred to a different call center for screening, and a second round of screening to…