/>iIts not too often a company decide not to defend itself in court and then walks away with a major victory. But that may have just happened in Oklahoma and everyone should pay attention here.
In Braver v. Clear Sky Financial, 2024 WL 3488082 (W.D. Ok. July 18. 2024) a Defendant failed to obtain a lawyer and appear to defend a case. As a result the court entered default judgment against the company.
The complaint alleged 19 calls. The Court found that each of these calls violated both 227(b) and 227(c) of the TCPA since the call with BOTH prerecorded AND to a number on the DNC list–double penalties!– and trebeled damages. The TCPA generally permits up to $500.00 per violation–but it also allows trebling where a willful violation is alleged. So the court awarded $3k per call for a total of $57,000.00 in damages.
Eesh.
Thats the bad news.
But there is good news.
Plaintiff also sued under the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act.
However–as Braver learned– there is also a rather odd provision exempting: “[a]ctions or transactions regulated under laws administered by…any other regulatory body or officer acting under statutory authority of…the United States.”
The Braver court reasoned that TCPA claims are regulated by the FCC. So the entirety of OCPA is essentially gutted by this exemption.
Interesting no?
On the other hand the Plaintiff did not sue under the Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act (OTSA) –that is found at 775C of the Oklahoma Code and Plaintiff sued under 755 of the Code. So it is a little odd to me that the Plaintiff did not pursue that claim.
