Allstate has been in a heap of TCPA trouble of late, but it did defeat a class action bid a while back.

Hoping to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the Plaintiff in Hossfield v. Allstate, 2024 WL 325337 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 29, 2024) figured they would try it again and moved to certify the case a second time.

It did not go well.

Allstate wisely moved to strike the motion and the Court stayed briefing on the certification effort pending the outcome of the motion to strike–a pretty bad sign for the Plaintiff.

The Court ultimately granted Allstate’s motion holding Plaintiff failed to demonstrate any new facts or material change in circumstances or law that merited reconsideration.

While I am happy for Allstate here, I kind of see Plaintiff’s point.

In the original motion they had identified a vendor that was calling numbers on Allstate’s internal DNC list. They suggested to the Court–but provided no evidence–that other vendors were doing the same thing. They asked the Court to certify a class of everyone who received calls from such vendors–but the Court refused since the showing was too speculative.

In their second motion it appears the Plaintiff cleaned up a lot of the uncertainty. But the Court refused to credit the showing finding that the evidence should have been presented the first time around.

Eesh.

Really important lesson here for folks. Whether a Plaintiff or a Defendant facing a certification effort–EVIDENCE matters. And even a small oversight (or in this case a seemingly large one) can destroy a certification effort or defense.

Remember certification is DISCRETIONARY with the Court–meaning that the Court can grant or deny on a huge number of bases. But Courts LOVE it when one of the parties give it an easy way out and they can point to a simple failure of proof.

Don’t let it happen to you!