Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – May 11, 2021 – Greenspoon Marder is pleased to announce that partners Jeffrey A. Backman and Richard W. Epstein and senior counsel Roy Taub have secured a victory for clients Consolidated Travel Holdings Group, Inc. and four individuals. The lawsuit alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and sought to certify a nationwide class of hundreds of thousands.
The case, Bakov v. Consolidated Travel Holdings Group, Inc., No. 20-C-2459, a follow-on suit from two previous lawsuits, “Bakov I” and “Bakov II.” “Bakov I” is before the same judge in the Northern District of Illinois, while “Bakov II,” was filed in the Southern District of Florida against these same Defendants and was dismissed under the rule against claim-splitting. After litigating all three cases for more than six years, Greenspoon Marder persuaded the court to dismiss “Bakov III”, in its entirety, after it concluded that the Plaintiffs could not file separate lawsuits against related defendants over the same telephone calls, that the lawsuit was barred by the statute of limitations, and that – just as the court had ruled five years earlier in “Bakov I” – there was no jurisdiction over these Defendants. The court ruled that there was no basis to overlook the expiration of the four-year statute of limitations, agreeing with Greenspoon Marder’s arguments that Plaintiffs’ theory that the corporate defendant was an alter ego did not eliminate the need to file a timely complaint. The court also found that Plaintiffs’ purported “mistake of law” in not filing timely claims against the Defendants, a mistake the court deemed to be “rather egregious,” also did not excuse the failure to comply with the statute of limitations. The Order dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be re-filed. Greenspoon Marder represented all defendants and successfully obtained dismissal of the parent company and the four individuals.
“We are pleased to get this great result for our clients,” said Mr. Backman.
Greenspoon Marder’s Class Action Defense practice group has successfully defended against hundreds of TCPA class actions. We are keenly aware of the underlying substantive areas of law in TCPA and other consumer class action lawsuits that can bankrupt even the biggest companies, and defending against them is no small feat. Experienced, strategic counsel is a necessity.
