TCPA Litigation Abuse is a Real Problem

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), originally enacted to regulate telemarketing calls, has spawned a cottage industry of known plaintiffs who look for opportunities to bring crippling class action and individual lawsuits against marketers and debt collectors.

The dramatic rise of mobile phone use combined with the lack of a requirement to show proof of actual damages and the TCPA’s unclear language of what constitutes an automated telephone dialing system (ATDS) has contributed to an unprecedented increase in class action lawsuits.

TCPA litigation abuse occurs when individuals or entities purposely engage with companies, often through communication methods covered by the TCPA (such as telemarketing calls or unsolicited text messages) with the intention of creating a basis for a lawsuit. They may claim that they received unwanted communications in violation of the TCPA and seek damages in court.

“These known plaintiffs make a living by filing lawsuits and go out of their way to try and entrap unsuspecting marketers."

PossibleNOW offers a database of these known plaintiffs to help marketers protect themselves from known plaintiffs in TCPA and debt collection-related lawsuits.

 The database is comprised of public records of consumers and attorneys who have filed class action lawsuits against telemarketers, collection agencies or credit issuers, sometimes to take advantage of the TCPA’s damage scheme which does not require proof of actual damage. This known plaintiff database is based on research of public records of litigation that were brought into US federal court, excluding bankruptcy court, in any of the 50 states including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 

Offering this known plaintiff database in conjunction with PossibleNOW's leading cloud-based do not contact application, DNCSolution®, helps marketers ensure compliance with current consumer privacy legislation while protecting their organization from potentially damaging lawsuits.