Every phone call a company makes using an auto-dialer to a person who has not provided prior express consent puts that company on the hook for up to $500 (or sometimes even more) in penalties under the TCPA. Where companies make thousands or hundreds of thousands of auto-dialed calls, or send numerous advertising faxes, the company’s potential TCPA liability can be massive. Some TCPA settlements have approached $100 million and many such settlements have exceeded $10 million. It is easy to see why plaintiffs’ attorneys have developed an entire cottage industry out of filing consumer class action lawsuits under the TCPA, and why TCPA lawsuits are clogging federal courts around the country.
Kelley Drye has been counseling clients on how to avoid TCPA liability since the statute was passed more than 20 years ago, and our knowledge and experience is unmatched in the defense of lawsuits involving the TCPA, the TSR, the JFPA, and state telemarketing and debt collection laws.
For companies facing TCPA claims, we believe our litigation team has defended more TCPA class actions than any other firm in the country, and our track record in these cases is outstanding. We also know plaintiffs’ firms that bring these cases, and just as importantly, they know us. Our strong team of litigators has been across the courtroom—and the negotiation table—from these attorneys in numerous TCPA and other cases over the past 10 years. We have won numerous motions to dismiss, convinced courts to strike class action claims at the pleading stage, and obtained summary judgment at early stages of cases.
Our team recently won the first summary judgment decision in the country on behalf of a client charged with “vicarious” TCPA liability for calls made by a reseller of its products. We also are among a very few firms that have taken TCPA class actions to trial—a fact our adversaries know and fear when discussing settlement with us—and the interdisciplinary nature of our TCPA team allows the same lawyers handling the litigation to follow the case to the FCC in declaratory ruling petitions, rulemaking proceedings and waiver petitions. In the 2017 edition of Legal 500, the firm’s class action team is recommended as an “excellent group exceling in class actions and mass tort litigation, with a particular niche in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) cases.”