Virginia is for lovers, of course. But it is also for litigators.

And getting sued in Virginia can be very unpleasant– the E.D.VA. is known as the “rocket docket” for how quickly cases proceed to trial–a very costly place to be sued, indeed.

Well Fuego Leads, LLC was recently sued in the jurisdiction for alleged TCPA violations committed by their call center friends over at Infinix Media, LLC.

Fuego moved to dismiss the case arguing it did not make the calls itself so the court has no jurisdiction over it. But the court in Ackerman v. Fuego Leads, 2024 WL 3625195 (E.D. Va. 08/01/2024) disagreed.

Reasoning that the complaint alleged Fuego authorized and ratified Infinix’ actions it saw no reason to dismiss the case:

By alleging that Fuego “authorized Infinix” to place calls en masse within certain parameters—with no exclusion for recipients in particular states—the Amended Complaint adequately pleads that Fuego gave Infinix actual authority to make the calls to Virginia. ECF No. 46 ¶¶ 84, 14, 63, 58 (parameters).

Even if those allegations are insufficient to plead actual authority, the Amended Complaint plausibly alleges that Fuego ratified Infinix’s actions. Fuego admits that Infinix routed an inbound call from the plaintiff’s Virginia phone number to Fuego and that Fuego “transferred that call to Millennium Health.” ECF No. 67-1 ¶ 16. Even if “Fuego didn’t know which states or consumers Infinix … intended to target before it received [that] inbound call,” ECF No. 67 at 4 (citing ECF No. 67-1 ¶ 15.d.), its choice to transfer a call from a Virginia phone number to the principal on whose behalf it contracted with Infinix would constitute ratification.

Interesting, no?

Just another example of the lead generation industry creating potential TCPA risk.