Good morning everyone! I hope you had a FANTASTIC week! It's been a roller coaster, as usual for 2020, but we're coming in for the (hopefully not) dramatic climax of 2020! Top Class Actions clients are busy filing new cases and settlements, and hopefully you are still gainfully employed and working towards making 2021 amazing for you and your family.
Something I touch on occasionally are Class Actions... OK, I talk about them all the time, but something very interesting happened last week in the Supreme Court. Oral arguments were heard regarding a high dollar TCPA case with Facebook. Reading the arguments is interesting, and the ruling will have a dramatic impact on TCPA cases going forward, no matter which side the court
decides on.
So, what's my point??? Well, it goes to show you that just because you THINK you have a killer case against a defendant with deep pockets, it can always bite you (and possibly the entire plaintiff bar) in the backside... This case was filed in 2015 and it's possible the expectation was, file the case, fight a bit, and get a $5 million settlement. But what everyone has to remember is IT'S FACEBOOK BABY! They rake in darn close to a hundred BILLION dollars per year. They have LOTS of money to spend and that $5 million could lead to a BILLION if every Facebook user was included... So, naturally, Facebook's
fought this one tooth and nail, and they're making very compelling arguments.
Facebook has likely already paid well over $10 or 20 million in litigation expenses is my guess. They're paying teams of the best class action defense lawyers in the country who've been working this case for five years. If it was about paying $5 million, they could have done that and walked away, but they're playing the long game for themselves and every other TCPA defendant out there.
So, what happens If Facebook wins? In a nutshell, less TCPA cases will get filed. It's possible we'll see an increase in SPAM calls and text messages. Will TCPA cases end? Ohhhh heck no! While Facebook has a massive army of super smart defense lawyers, you have a legion of
RIDICULOUSLY intelligent consumer advocates fighting for YOU. They're like chess Grandmasters (have YOU watched The Queen's Gambit on Netflix yet?) thinking 20 moves ahead. They're already preparing to pivot their TCPA cases, if needed, once the Supreme Court rules in May. Your consumer advocates will be ready, and we'll make sure to report what happens!
OK, on to more lawsuit and settlement updates!
That's all for now! Make it a great week and HAPPY HANUKKAH!
Warm Regards,
Scott Hardy
President & CEO