No matter how many times I raise the issue, it seems, TCPA defense counsel are still not getting the message.
DO NOT APPOINT NCLC AS CY PRES RECIPIENT IN TCPA CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTS.
The NCLC famously advocates before the FCC and Congress for broader and more expansive TCPA coverage–leading to TCPA lawsuits–and then accepts money from resulting TCPA settlements. Yet they tell folks they are advocating on behalf of “low income clients” never mentioning that their funded by the TCPA plaintiff’s bar.
Disgusting.
I have mentioned this issue several times on TCPAWorld and yet the latest TCPA settlement to receive approval, once again, has NCLC listed as a cy pres recipient.
In Cornelius v. Deere Credit 2025 WL 502089 (S.D. Ga Feb. 13, 2025) the court granted final approval to a $1.5MM TCPA class action settlement involving prerecorded servicing calls to wrong numbers.
The class was: “all persons throughout the United States (1) to whom Deere Credi Services, Inc. placed a call, (2) directed to a number assigned to a cellular telephone service, but not assigned to a Deere Credit Services, Inc. customer or accountholder, (3) in connection with which Deere Credit Services, Inc. used an artificial or prerecorded voice, (4) from February 2, 2020 through June 25, 2024.”
The plaintiff’s lawyers– the Wolf and Mr. Number One teamed up for this one–walked with $500k.
And the National Consumer Law Center is the cy pres designee. (That means they will get any left over money from the class if checks aren’t cashed, etc.– can often be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, although will likely be less in this smaller settlement.)
If you’re a TCPA class action defense counsel that uses NCLC as a cy pres recipient in a TCPA class action settlement expect to be called out BY NAME when I cover the settlement. That’s how we’re going to handle these things from now on.
And you should really be appointing R.E.A.C.H. as the cy pres in these cases folks–R.E.A.C.H. has stopped way more robocalls than NCLC and works hard to educate and advocate for compliance with the folks in the industry that causes the most preventable robocalls. No better organization than R.E.A.C.H. to receive cy pres dollars– but better to give it to ANYONE else over NCLC.