And we wonder why NCLC–which claims to be a non-profit–is constantly advocating for a broad TCPA.

It is among the groups set to make millions of dollars following a TCPA judgment against Dish. Notably neither TCPAWorld.com–the single most read source of TCPA news on the planet, and that is responsible for stopping more illegal calls through informational outreach than any of the chosen cy pres recipients– or R.E.A.C.H.–an organization whose mission it to stop unwanted calls–will receive a single dollar.

On the other hand special interest groups that lobby for the interests of the Plaintiff’s bar? Millions.

So it goes.

The back story here is interesting.

Dish got hammered with a $61MM judgment. It funded the judgment. But there was $22MM left undistributed because class members could not be located and checks were not cashed.

What to do?

Well the Court allowed Dish to take back $6MM of those dollars–which is odd since a judgment was entered against it in the full amount–and the remaining ~$16MM is going to a bunch of cy pres, pro rata on a recommendation from a special master (again, who did not identify TCPAWorld.com as an appropriate recipient for some reason) according to this schedule:

As you can see NCLC and Public Knowledge–the two organizations behind the current FCC NPRM--are set to get PAID.

Really unfair and wrong. But what is done is done and cannot be undone.

For those of you wondering, a cy pres recipient is generally a non-profit that serves the interests that are impacted by a lawsuit. In the case of the TCPA, you’d want to find groups that help educate people about the TCPA and stop robocalls. You know, groups like R.E.A.C.H. and TCPAWorld. But instead, the Court gave much of the $16MM to groups that basically just promote advocacy for Plaintiff’s lawyers.

Nice.

Anyway with millions in additional revenue coming in, we can expect a bunch more antics and scary conduct from the NCLC guys, and others.

Be ready.

Meanwhile REACH will keep doing miraculous things with virtually no money because the good guys always win in the end. 

And if YOU are involved in a class action settlement be sure to keep R.E.A.C.H. and TCPAWorld in mind for cy pres. These are the right choices here.

Chat soon.