Duane Morris Class Action Review - 2023 - Report - Page 369
$500 per call for a verdict against the defendant of $925 million. The defendant filed a
post-trial motion challenging the constitutionality of the statutory damages award under
the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment as being unconstitutionally excessive.
The district court denied the motion. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded
the district court's denial of the defendant’s motion. On appeal, the defendant contended
that even if the TCPA's statutory penalty of $500 per violation was constitutional, an
aggregate award of $925,220,000 was so "severe and oppressive" that it violated the
defendant’s due process rights. Id. at 1120. The Ninth Circuit concluded that
aggregated statutory damages, even where the per-violation penalty is constitutional,
should be subject to constitutional limitation in extreme situations, or when they are
wholly disproportioned" and "obviously unreasonable" in relation to the goals of the
statute and the conduct the statute prohibits. Id. at 1123. For these reasons, the Ninth
Circuit vacated and remanded the district court's denial of the defendant’s post-trial
motion challenging the constitutionality of the statutory damages award to permit
reassessment of that question guided by the applicable factors.
III.
Top TCPA Class Action Settlements In 2022
There were several multi-million class-wide TCPA settlements in 2022. Four of the 10
topped $15 million.
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Duane Morris Class Action Review – 2023
