By Eric J . Troutman
MEET COURT THE ETIQUETTE TEAM
EESH
Court Denies Sanctions In TCPA Suit But Calls Out Both Counsel For Misbehaving ; Folks Need To Get Better
By Eric J . Troutman
LOOK , the Czar is famously one of the toughest fighters in the country . But I am also a clean fighter . Honest . Direct . Forthcoming .
I win by aligning myself with truth , not by playing any dirty tricks . Smart moves . Thought out in advance . And deployed with impeccable timing and precision .
But that is not universally the case . In fact , many lawyers love to bicker , stonewall , and name call .
Now here is the thing — the lawyers involved in this case are both guys I know . The Plaintiff ’ s lawyer — who I will not name — has , at times , been a hothead and not entirely thoughtful in cases I have handled against him . But he is not a bad person to my knowledge .
And the Defense counsel is actually a decent fellow and someone who checks in with me from time to time — but he appears to have let his frustrations with opposing counsel get the best of him in this case .
All right , to the meat .
In Virginia Johnson v . Medigap Life , LLC 2023 WL 5619305 ( S . D . Fl . Aug . 31 , 2023 ), Defendant sought sanctions against Virginia Johnson and her counsel for purportedly bringing a meritless TCPA case .
Specifically , Medigap Life claimed Johnson provided consent multiple times on websites and that those consent records were provided to Plaintiff ’ s counsel before the case was ever filed . Nonetheless , the suit was brought .
Medigap Life then advised Plaintiff ’ s counsel it intended to move to compel arbitration . Apparently , Plaintiff ’ s counsel did not meaningfully respond to the meet-and-confer effort on the motion , so Medigap had to spend the money to bring the motion .
After , the motion was granted , though Plaintiff ’ s counsel simply did not respond to it and advised the court it had no opposition . So the case was sent to arbitration , and the $ 55,000 that Medigap apparently spent defending itself in the case was entirely wasted .
Frustrated , Medigap Life sought sanctions against Plaintiff and her counsel to recover the $ 55,000 in fees . And while they had a decent argument , it appears the Defendant overreached by challenging that the case was
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