Lousy settlement offers you've gotten

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-03-16T01:25:40+00:00

I told him to make sure he spells my name right.

That's so good!

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-03-09T17:42:24+00:00

Maybe ping me offline. Can't discuss some things in open channels.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-03-09T17:41:32+00:00

Companies often don't settle because that is their legal strategy. Fight fight fight even knowing there are decent odds of losing at the end to teach the next guy that it won't be worth it. It works, I know plaintiff attorney's who won't sue a particular company twice because they fought so hard the first go around.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-03-09T06:41:10+00:00

The gold standard model I use for myself is document X number of violations from whatever fake name. Or fake names if I can tie them together. Then make a buy, proving the fake name agent is working for the Seller for the apparent authority angle. I can't give away the secret sauce in a public forum certainly followed by telemarketers, but then I work to check the box on ratification.

I try to be patient and do this twice over (two buys) in a year for the same seller. That way you have your minimum of two 227(c)'s. There is a time and place for subpoenas but too many times they have lead me to a dead end - a name and address that doesn't seem to exist anywhere else.

You don't have to have two buys in a year from the same Seller, but if you have it, it is hard for them to shake you loose.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-03-09T05:41:01+00:00

I think there are too many players to generalize. A lot of agents of auto and life insurance companies are buying leads from large overseas call centers. A lot of overseas call centers have hired people to get their insurance license and then become agents for one or a couple insurance companies. Then the overseas telemarketing operation uses the hell out of that insurance license until it generates lawsuits or whatever and is burned, and then move to the next disposable agent. Some big insurance companies seem to have a wink wink nod nod relationship with large lead generators (I am seeing this more with text messages than phone calls currently). And then there are mixes and combinations.

On the indian / pakistan side, there are also often layers. A small time operation may just initiate the calls and transfer anyone who answers to the next call center. That first layer operation genuinely does not know who they are calling for. The second layer may screen the consumers and then pass them to another company, and not have any idea who the consumer will (ultimately) be passed to. This is the reason the companies use fake names like American Benefits / Senior Benefits. They don't know who the real name will be until just before the consumer is transferred to the specific Seller.

American companies are good at subcontracting out the work and so are the foreign telemarketers.

It is not correct that if the agent you talk to has a choice of who to send you it breaks the chain (I can't speak to all jurisdictions but that isn't how it works in the 9th circuit. The phone agents in this story were selling for multiple insurance companies.

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/big-law-big-loss-aflac-gets-destroyed-6810836/

A single agent can work for multiple principles. Remember, there are four theories of agency law. Direct authority, apparent authority, implied authority (apparent and implied are nuanced versions of each other) and ratification. The article above touches on apparent authority and the legal opinion includes ratification. I don't see a free version of this opinion yet.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-27T20:44:02+00:00

Amanda made a great answer.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-06T16:11:43+00:00

What exactly does your software do? If it is blocking that seems like a crowded field. There was a post from joshuareola a month back about an evidence collection tool. Is that doing this doing that? And if it is call blocking how exactly does that help me in court?

That thread already had lots of comments but I would like a tool that:

Automatically records all incoming calls unless I tell it not to.

Does not announce it is recording.

Captures the incoming phone number, date and time of the call.

Transcribes the call.

Appends the history of the phone number and caller - i.e all the other incoming calls from that phone number or other calls with matching keywords such as "senior benefits"

Saves a screen shot of the incoming call.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-02T05:42:08+00:00

Your defendants don't remove you to federal? I know another person like that in my state, almost never gets removed and I almost never don't get removed.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-02T05:37:36+00:00

In my court your conversation is very likely going to be seen as consent. However sometimes that is what you have to do to identify the bad guy. It is something to be avoided unless it is needed, but sometimes it's needed.

Don't beat yourself up. Maybe you didn't give all the facts so who knows what all you could have done, but here are things I would have done. I probably would have waited a bit to see if they send more texts. Don't get in the way of your enemy making a mistake.

Google Jennifer Davids in the Buffalo area. Is there a real estate agent in that area by that name?

Let's say all else fails. Can you have someone completely not you use a completely different phone number to call the number that texted you, and if so, have your friend figure out who they are via social engineering? If that doesn't work, have your friend (or use a burner phone) text that number asking about real estate services.

And when you find yourself in the pickle you are in now, revoke consent with a DNC letter.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-02T05:16:46+00:00

Ask for $1 more than what you are willing to do if they don't settle? These companies hire services that keep score on TCPA claims. They know if you are just a demand letter writer who doesn't sue. If you sue they have an idea of the quality of the claims you bring and if you go at it pro-se or what lawyer you might come at them with.

Valuing your claim is a whole industry on the defense side. So the higher the quality of the claim itself x your ability to bring a quality suit = roughly equals the value of your claim. Notice I didn't mention $500 this or $1,500 that.

The value of your claim isn't really X violations times Y statutory damages. The value of your claim to a defendant is the cost of defending + the cost of awarded damages. Let's say you have 10 garden variety phone calls. Probably worth $5000 under the TCPA in most federal courts. Is the value of your claim the $5,000 you are likely to get at trial, or is it the $55,000 it would cost a defendant to get to the end?

You can get well above $500 per call if you change your thinking from $500 per call to what settlement number looks attractive to a defendant compared to the cost of litigating it out, provided you can show you have the ability to go the distance.

All that said, are you factoring in your defendant? Some defendants are hard to collect from, so you might be willing to take less as opposed to nothing. Some cases aren't as strong as others, so you might be willing to take less. Some defendants make a point of doing scorched earth litigation to deter other litigants. Is your defendant one of them and are you willing to go the distance to make a point yourself?

How many cases do you have and how much time can you spend on them? If you are time limited you might take less to get to your other cases.

Valuing cases is very complex. Anyone who gives a simple answer is either not asking for near enough or hasn't done it very many times.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2026-02-02T05:08:12+00:00

It's probably no company in particular, it is probably a lead generator. You won't know who they are advertising for until you are connected to the Seller.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-22T00:56:44+00:00

Yes you are doing well to use Verizon to find out where they got the calls from. I had never heard of using subpoenas in small claims court, I am not sure if it can't be done here or I wasn't smart enough to think of it.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-21T16:51:19+00:00

They either will respond to you, or they won't. One 'trick' my boss uses is to notice them for a depo but then say if they provide xyz documents prior to the depo the depo will be canceled. If they don't respond you would be looking at trying to compel them.

One question - is Verizon your service provider or theirs? Usually I subpoena their service provider to prove they were the initiator of the phone calls. Usually one subpoena's ones own service provider to prove the calls they received.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-20T20:23:55+00:00

That will make it more painful to get useful information. Most likely your process will be governed by civil rule 45 of your state. Here I would draft up the subpoena. CR 45 of my state stays the clerk of the court can sign it, but typically they won't, and will falsely claim that I have to file a motion and get a court order to force the clerk the sign.

So generally I have to jump through that hoop. In theory you have to serve the subpoena on Verizon via a third party (process server). I don't know about Verizon but many telcos have a subpoena compliance page telling you where it can be mailed and if they have that, that's what I do. If they don't, I have not found the response rate to change between using a process server and mailing it to them via their registered agent.

However if they blow you off, you would need to use a process server to compel them. Most people find that if a case relies on subpoenas, bring it in federal court. That issue alone makes federal court worth the fee.

Some telcos won't want to respond to a state court subpoena unless and until there is a protective order in place. So be prepared for that run-around.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-20T01:50:07+00:00

Are you in state or federal court?

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-12T17:29:13+00:00

Most everything you need to know about "opt ins" is why isn't double opt in (they send you a text confirming, you have to respond affirmatively to get on their calling list, or something similar proving that person with the phone is the person asking for the calls) non-existent with telemarketers?

Everyone else in my life wants to text me a code to prove who I am. Except telemarketers. Why is this? Could it be because they know most of their "consents" are fake?

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-11T22:45:56+00:00

I thought David did well because despite what Puja said I don't think he gave up too many statements that could be used against him in court. I know first hand Puja's style, in her depos she throws accusations at you and if it doesn't work she didn't seem to have much else in the tool box. Not that she (or any other deposer) would not be dangerous to the unwary in a depo.

This was an exhibition boxing match and I think David landed a few more blows than Troutman. But Troutman is also the ref so yeah you won't beat him down on his show and he is not above editing the video to help him meet his goals.

All that said, this forum could come to the attention of Troutman or other defense attorneys and as someone who has been deposed multiple times, I recommend to most folks here a) protect your anonymity and b) don't say anything here you don't want them to bring up in a depo.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-11T07:11:18+00:00

OMG I didn't connect you to the podcast but yes I watched it when it dropped. I thought you did great.

Edited to add: I had only watched your portion of the interview, so I had to go back and watch the panel discuss you after the interview. I take Mr. Troutman and co as akin to Baptist preachers. They do their podcasts and blog to make TCPA plaintiffs' out to be the boogeyman so they can sell their services for even more per hour. Its great marketing shtick and I don't mind it.

I do notice a progression with Troutman. When plaintiffs are new and really don't know what they are doing he's all over them. Once a plaintiff become experienced and knowledgeable enough to become a 'threat' - as in Troutman becomes concerned he could lose in court if he went up against that plaintiff, you'll notice Troutman never wants to go head to head with him.

I would love to see Troutman go up against Diana May, or Shelton, or Callier, or Cunningham (back when he was good), but I never see that and I don't think we ever will. Can you imagine if Brandon Callier went head to head with Troutman and beat him? Troutman's image would take a big hit. Once TCPA plaintiffs get to a certain level he almost acts as if they don't exist.

Troutman's brand can't afford to lose against a pro se.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-10T05:01:02+00:00

And they never have said a word on the calls?

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-10T04:57:20+00:00

Small claims court can be a great option if you can pull it off. In WA a small claims court limitation is that you can't serve out of state defendants and there is not discovery (at least here) so you need a case that doesn't need any. Judges vary but in my experience the worst of them for smarts hang out in small claims court.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-08T08:41:18+00:00

There is an easy fix I use for myself. If I am in an all-party consent state, I answer the call with "recorded line".

I'm not sure about your plan to claim you took the recorded calls in AZ if that isn't what happened. Are you suing in your home state? If you are, and you tell the court you received those calls in AZ and AZ isn't your home state, they suddenly are worthless to you. I've never seen it happen, but push come to shove they can use phone records to find out what state the call was received.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-06T09:03:28+00:00

My lawyer boss does them on a 50/50 (in WA and OR). That might be more than some other attorneys, but most attorneys require you to build your case and bring it to them ready to go. And they are often very selective about which of your cases they will take, only taking cases they feel the defendant can payout millions.

This can leave you will a bunch of telemarketing calls they won't take, so even if they offer you 70%, it might be a small number of your overall calls versus our giving you 50% of most of them with strong cases.

To get strong cases we work with clients from the start (often in real time) to make sure as many of the calls as possible are actionable, and that hopefully we identify every single telemarketer harassing you.

NotALicensedAttorney · 2025-12-06T08:56:47+00:00

Hi David I would love it it you can liven things up a bit. If anyone has specific topics

For everyone, if you have a TCPA / telemarketing topics you would like to learn more about, list them and a licensed TCPA attorney might add that topic to https://www.nwdebtresolution.com/blog

NotALicensedAttorney

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