Hanley v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC, No. 12 C 4158 (N.D. Ill. March 21, 2013)

After allowing Plaintiff multiple opportunities to submit additional authority in opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, the court dismissed his class action Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, stating “[t]his case is much ado about nothing. At least that is the conclusion that the Court must reach after reviewing Hanley’s wholly inadequate complaint in which next to nothing is pleaded.” The court added that “Hanley does not plead how many calls [Defendant] allegedly made to him in violation of the Act. Nor does Hanley plead when the allegedly offending calls were made. He does not plead when he asked [Defendant] to cease calling him, nor how he asked. The factual allegations in the Complaint represent nothing more than ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action,’ and such ‘[t]hreadbare recitals . . . supported by mere conclusory statements do not suffice.’ Hanley merely states what he understands the TCPA to proscribe, and then goes on the plead threadbare and conclusory facts that allege the elements of a prima facie cause of action under the Act, but nothing more. Hanley’s complaint, therefore is highly suspect because it merely recites naked facts mimicking the elements of a cause of action under the TCPA.”

For more information on TCPA regulation and effects, contact Burr & Forman attorney, Joshua Threadcraft, here.