iLittle known fact, plaintiff’s law firms are HUGE buyer of leads and makers of robocalls and texts, even as other Plaintiff’s law firms prey on them.
There is a massive conference called “Mass Torts Made Perfect” where hundreds of lead sellers show up and try to convince thousands of lawyers to buy their leads. Pretty big deal.
But just like in any other vertical third-party leads can lead to massive TCPA risk. And sometimes to small but difficult cases.
Just as Burger Law.
They’re stuck in a case brought by a lady with no lawyer and its pretty dreadful.
In Gonzalez v. Burger Law 2024 WL 1014058 No. 4:23-CV-1094 RLW (E.D. Mo. March 8, 2024) the court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss finding that the firm’s purchase of leads from a third party called “Consumer Legal” was sufficient to constitute a “telemarketing scheme” that Burger was potentially liable for. This is true even though Burger did not make any of the calls itself:
In moving for dismissal, Burger Law makes a number of assertions regarding Plaintiff’s allegations that are not supported by the record. Contrary to Burger Law’s assertion, Plaintiff does allege Burger Law directed Consumer Legal to make solicitation calls on its behalf. Plaintiff alleges there is a formal agency relationship between Burger Law and Consumer Legal, including a contract that governs Consumer Legal’s telemarketing for Burger Law. She alleges that Burger Law controls a telemarketing scheme whereby Burger Law sets the criteria for leads, and Consumer Legal makes solicitation calls to potential clients on Burger Law’s behalf. Plaintiff alleges she received more than one solicitation call on behalf of Burger Law, and during at least one call, she was transferred by Consumer Legal to Burger Law, and Burger Law continued to market to her legal representation. In sum, the Court finds Plaintiff has alleged sufficient facts to support a reasonable inference that there was a formal agency relationship between Burger Law and Consumer Legal, or alternatively, that there was apparent authority and ratification, such that Burger Law may be held vicariously liable for Consumer Legal’s phone calls to Plaintiff.
While folks hardly need a reminder that buying third-party leads come with substantial risk, cases like this serve to reinforce the importance of solid compliance and VETTTING for all third-party vendors.
