By: Jeffrey Backman, Esq. and Roy Taub, Esq.
Greenspoon Marder Team Secures Major Win as Class Certification Blocked in Case Against Solstice Benefits Inc.
On April 23, 2018, a dental practice in Livonia, Mich. received a one-page fax from Solstice Benefits, Inc. (“Solstice”) with a notification about a new group participating in one or more dental insurance plans in which the recipient was contracted to provide services to Solstice members. That dental practice is a serial plaintiff filing Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) cases, and nearly four years after receiving the fax, it filed a class action TCPA lawsuit in the Eastern District of Michigan, Brian J. Lyngaas, D.D.S., P.L.L.C. v. Solstice Benefits, Inc., No. 22-cv-10830. In a decision issued September 19, 2025, Judge Linda V. Parker denied Plaintiff’s Motion to Certify a Class, a major victory obtained by Solstice, which is represented by Greenspoon Marder partners Jeffrey Backman and Roy Taub and associate Tracy Garcia.
The Plaintiff argued that class certification is normal in TCPA cases, but the court agreed with Greenspoon Marder’s arguments and the record it developed. Noting that this was not a case where the defendant purchased a list of fax numbers to target or had no relationship with the recipients, as Plaintiff conceded everyone in the class, including itself, was a contracted provider on at least one of the Solstice networks mentioned in the fax, the court denied certification.
The court found that Solstice presented more than just a possibility that individuals had consented to receiving the fax. In the judge’s words, “Solstice has done more than raise a mere possibility” of consent. The company provided concrete evidence showing multiple ways it had contact with recipients. Because of this, determining who had consented, had contact with Solstice or had an established business relationship would require a detailed review of individual records.
The judge concluded that there is no “administratively feasible” way to identify class members, and that the issue of consent clearly outweighs any common legal questions shared by the group.
As a result of the team’s victory, the focus of the case has shifted to just the one fax that Plaintiff received, instead of potentially 46,686 transmissions that could have resulted in a maximum award under the TCPA of approximately $70 million.
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