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A Missouri court became the second court to enter an injunction against Ryan Swanberg (“Caller”) and ordered him to pay approximately $20,000 in damages and attorney fees. The Caller had threatened real estate brokerages across the country with litigation last fall for allegedly not complying with the federal “Do Not Call” rules. This injunction also prohibits the Caller from “citing or relying upon the TCPA or its regulations as grounds upon which to make demands, seek payment of money or the compromise of any claims whatsoever”. Click here to read a summary of the earlier decision.
The Caller employed the following method. First, he would contact a real estate brokerage via facsimile and ask that his phone number be placed on the company’s internal “do not call” list. He would also request that the brokerage mail him a copy of the company’s policy for maintaining its internal “do not call” list within five days. If the Caller did not receive the brokerage’s “do not call policy” within five days, he would threaten to file a lawsuit against the brokerage in Minnesota state court. To avoid the lawsuit, the Caller would offer the brokerage the opportunity to settle the matter for around $5,000.
Gary Lang and his company, American Financial Mortgage, (“Company”), filed a lawsuit against the Caller in response to his threats. When the Caller failed to appear or file an answer in response to the lawsuit, the Circuit Court of the County of St. Louis entered an injunction against the Caller, finding that failure to do so could cause the Company to “suffer irreparable harm based on the Caller’s activities”. The court ordered the entry of an injunction and made the following declaratory judgments:
The Company is not liable to the Caller for any cause of action arising out of its failure to provide the Caller with a copy of its “do-not-call” policy;
The Caller lacked “standing” to bring a lawsuit against the Company, since he had not received “more than one” telephone solicitation from the Company in a 12 month period;
Through his threats, the Caller had inflicted emotional distress upon the Company and so the court ordered him to pay the Company $1,000 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages; and
The court also ordered the Caller to pay the Company’s $9,800 legal fees.
The court also permanently enjoined the Caller against “citing or relying upon the TCPA or its regulations as grounds upon which to make demands, seek payment of money or the compromise of any claims whatsoever”.
Below is a copy of the court’s order:
Lange v. Swanberg, No. 07AC-000920 (Mo. Cir. Ct. June 19, 2007). [Note: This opinion was not published in an official reporter and therefore should not be cited as authority. Please consult counsel before relying on this opinion.]