The Trouble with Trebles: Fourth Circuit Upholds Record $61 Million Vendor Liability Verdict in TCPA Class Action

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United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a $61 million verdict in the closely-watched Krakauer v. Dish Network, LLC class action, finding that “the district court properly applied the law and prudently exercised its discretion.” Krakauer v. Dish Network, Case No 18-1518, slip op. at 3 (4th Cir. May 30, 2019). The Fourth Circuit’s decision marks bc data china the culmination of five years of litigation in one of the highest profile Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) class cases in the nation, which is believed to set the record verdict in any civil TCPA case.

The Case Below

Krakauer brought a TCPA class action against Dish Network in 2014, alleging that he received telemarketing calls asking him to buy services from Dish Network. The calls were not from Dish Network directly, but from Dish Network’s vendor, Satellite Systems Network (“SSN”). Krakauer, who had submitted his phone number to the national Do-Not-Call registry in 2003, called Dish Network to complain and was placed on the company’s individual Do-Not-Call list.

Krakauer’s lawsuit alleged that the calls violated the TCPA and that Dish Network was liable as SSN’s principal. Judge Catherine C. Eagles of the Middle District of North Carolina granted Krakauer’s motion for class certification and subsequently modified the class definition throughout the litigation. By the time of trial in 2017, the class included: “[a]ll persons throughout the United States whose telephone numbers were listed on the federal Do Not Call registry for at least 30 days, but who received telemarketing calls from SSN to promote the sale of Dish satellite television subscriptions from May 1, 2010 to August 1, 2011.” Id. at 14.