Serial TCPA Plaintiff Has Received Over $800K In Settlements

A Forbes article published this week discusses a recent TCPA settlement between serial litigator Jan Konopca and FDS Bank. The article states that before this suit, Konopca had filed 30 other TCPA suits and received over $800,000 from settlements in those cases. Konopca owns three phone numbers, one of which was originally a landline but was transferred to a cell line after he claimed squirrels chewed through the line's wires. Konopca is one of thousands of serial litigators who have filed multiple TCPA cases. Some serial plaintiffs seem to invite calls by obtaining multiple phone lines. Read the full article here. Conact a TCPA lawyer if your business is being sued in a TCPA case. Mitigate the risks of facing such a case by understanding telemarketing compliance, robocall laws, cell phone telemarketing laws, Do-Not-Call regulations, and autodialer laws.

Ninth Circuit Exonerates Business That Purchased Leads From Alleged TCPA Violator

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Click Media cannot be held liable for TCPA violations for purchasing a lead that was allegedly generated illegally. Click Media was several levels removed from the generation of the lead and had no way of knowing that a violation had taken place. The lead was allegedly illegally generated by AC Referral. According to the Court's opinion:
"[Plaintiff] Kristensen points to the fact that Click Media’s contract with AC Referral stated that AC Referral could use text message marketing and required AC Referral to comply with the TCPA. According to Kristensen, this was sufficient to trigger Click Media’s duty to investigate whether AC Referral was acting in compliance with law. We disagree. The knowledge that an agent is engaged in an otherwise commonplace marketing activity is not the sort of red flag that would lead a reasonable person to investigate whether the agent was engaging in unlawful activities. Because Click Media had no 'knowledge of facts that would have led a reasonable person to investigate further,' Click Media cannot be deemed to have ratified AC Referral’s actions and therefore is not vicariously liable." 
Read the full opinion here. Learn more about vicarious telemarketing liability. Telemarketing rules and telemarketing regulations are complex. Contact a telemarketing attorney to telemarketing compliance support and telemarketing compliance audits.