It doesn’t take a world-class litigator to tell you that those who elect not to defend themselves in court are likely to face very bad results. But I’ll tell you anyway.

In Barack v. Bankroll Capital, 2024 WL 3015327 (N.D. Tex. May 30, 2024) three Plaintiffs sued Bankroll over a combined 6 allegedly unwanted calls.

Plaintiffs sued both under the TCPA and under Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 302.101, that provides “[a] seller may not make a telephone solicitation from a location in this state or to a purchaser located in this state unless the seller holds a registration certificate for the business location from which the telephone solicitation is made.” Although this provisions is riddled with exemptions, a violation imposes a hefty $5k fine. And the TCPA carries a maximum $1,500.00 per call violation.

So between the TCPA and the Texas state law claim the Plaintiffs sought $6,500.00 per call. And since the Defendant did not show up in court to defend itself that is exactly what they were awarded:

Plaintiffs seek the maximum penalties under the TCPA and TBCC, so altogether they seek $6,500.00 per call. Plaintiffs allege that Mr. Barack received three calls, Mrs. Barack received one call, and Mr. Busbee received two calls. Thus, they are entitled to $19,500.00, $6,500.00, and $13,000.00, respectively, or $39,000.00 total. This figure keeps with the precedent of other courts in this Circuit.

Eesh.

So there you go. Don’t show up in court. Get hammered.

Notice also that although the Texas state law claims are often defeated based on myriad exceptions applicable to the statute, the statute does carry a surprisingly hefty $5k penalty where a violation is found. It just goes to show how dangerous the state law “mini-TCPA”s remain, even as Florida’s famous FTSA is now essentially defunct.