Two firms representing victims of the Camp Lejeune water contamination lawsuits have made motions against a potential class action lawsuit filed against them for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
According to Law360, Principal Law Group admitted to hiring a third party to “assist with social media marketing” but denies giving them permission to cold call people.
The plaintiff, a West Virginian named Diana Mey, alleges that the two law firms violated the TCPA when they allegedly cold-called her and other people on a federal do-not-call list in order to generate leads for their Camp Lejeune lawsuits. The TCPA is an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 that was signed into law in 1991. The TCPA restricts the use of telephone equipment, automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages, and fax machines to solicit prospective clients.
In their motion to dismiss the class action, the law firms made four points that they believed were sufficient to disqualify the case. First, they note that since Levin Law is a Florida-based company that does business in Florida, they have no direct ties to West Virginia or the alleged solicitations. Furthermore, there are “no allegations of any relationship between Levin Law and the party that made the offending solicitations.” Secondly, Levin Law claims that the court lacks jurisdiction under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
Third, since Mey does not claim that members of the law firms specifically called her, the firms state that they cannot possibly be directly liable for her alleged injuries, according to the TCPA. The firms cannot be vicariously found to be liable since they did not instruct, control, or otherwise dictate to the third party to make solicitations on their behalf.
Additionally, the accused firms claim that Mey has not adequately pled her do-not-call claim and that cannot be applied since calls were made to her cell phone when the TCPA does not cover cell phone usage, and she has not pled that she registered her phone number in the do-not-call registry.
If the class action is dismissed, it will free up the resources of these firms to continue to pursue justice on behalf of the victims of Camp Lejeune.
If you or a loved one have been harmed by the water contamination of Camp Lejeune, you may be eligible for financial compensation. Fill out a free case review today to see whether you qualify to join the ongoing lawsuits against the federal government.