October 23, 2017

Final Approval of $25M TCPA Lawsuit Granted

Payne & Fears LLP received a major victory in the RehabCare Group Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) litigation in the Eastern District of California.

Judge Dale A. Drozd released his decision granting final approval of the $25 million class settlement the Firm had obtained for recipients of “Polaris Group” junk faxes. In its 24-page decision, the court concluded that the settlement easily qualified as “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Over the course of several years, long-term care facilities across the country had been blanketed with faxes promoting Polaris Group products and services. Two prior lawsuits did not bring relief to the targeted and victimized facilities.

In this case, Judge Drozd regarded the $25 million class recovery as “exceptional, because it is the third-largest TCPA settlement in the Ninth Circuit in recent years.” The court also noted that the automatic distribution to all class members, rather than merely those who submit claims, produced a recovery “more on a per-violation basis than many TCPA settlements of which this court is aware.”

This is believed to be the third-largest recovery for junk fax violations in the 26-year history of the TCPA. Payne & Fears LLP attorneys Darryl Cordero, Scott Luskin, Matt Brown, Phil Lem, and Lani Jones were part of the team assisting with the prosecution of this case.