'Sophisticated' spam-call plaintiff gets smacked for his own gamesmanship - Reuters

(Reuters) - Christopher Laccinole is nary mean pro se plaintiff.

Laccinole, a U.S. Naval Academy postgraduate who present works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs successful Rhode Island, has filed much than 100 lawsuits connected his ain behalf, mostly alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. He favors authorities court, helium said successful a 2021 deposition, but has litigated dozens of cases successful national tribunal aft defendants person removed his suits.

Based connected Laccinole filings I’ve read, helium is not lone well-versed successful precedent addressing the national anti-robocall instrumentality and law lasting but has besides intelligibly studied the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Since 2014, national judges successful Rhode Island person noted Laccinole’s sophistication arsenic a litigator.

That sophistication turned into a liability successful a decision this week granting summary judgement to the International Union of Police Associations AFL-CIO successful 1 of Laccinole’s robocall cases.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Providence, Rhode Island, ruled that Laccinole cannot prosecute his claims of receiving unwanted spam calls from the constabulary national due to the fact that helium really invited the calls by purchasing cheap, pre-paid mobile phones that helium uses lone to tract robocalls.

McConnell based his ruling, of course, connected the grounds successful the lawsuit – and that is wherever Laccinole’s gamesmanship arsenic a litigator failed him. Because of his strategical decisions, the grounds successful the constabulary national lawsuit consisted chiefly of a deposition Laccinole gave successful a antithetic robocall case. In that testimony, helium said that helium has bought astatine slightest a twelve burner phones successful the past fewer years, swapping successful caller telephone numbers erstwhile his bare-bones telephone plans tally out. Laccinole said helium does not usage the burners arsenic idiosyncratic oregon concern phones and that helium purchased a location signaling strategy to portion the calls that travel successful to those telephone lines. His motive, helium said, is to enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The constabulary union’s counsel from The Bernhoft Law Firm and Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith argued successful their motion for summary judgment that the deposition – arsenic good arsenic Laccinole’s extended litigation grounds – proves that helium is moving a robocall litigation business, luring spam calls successful bid to record TCPA cases that volition nett him speedy settlements. (The union’s little does not accidental however overmuch wealth Laccinole has allegedly earned from his robocall cases.)

I called Laccinole connected the compartment telephone enactment that helium testified helium gives to friends. He declined to comment. Union counsel Daniel Treuden of Bernhoft did not respond to my email.

Laccinole is not the archetypal plaintiff to prehend connected that litigation accidental – nor the archetypal to beryllium called retired by a suspect for it. You whitethorn callback a 2016 ruling, Stoops v. Wells Fargo Bank NA, successful which a Pennsylvania national justice concluded that a plaintiff who admitted to buying burner phones expressly to pull robocalls did not person Article III lasting due to the fact that her privateness was not invaded. (I’m summarizing a much nuanced decision, but that is its gist.) In Laccinole’s case, the national relied heavy connected investigation from the Stoops decision, which has been wide adopted by different proceedings courts.

Laccinole’s effect was a downpour of procedural challenges.

He claimed that his lawsuit indispensable beryllium remanded to authorities court, wherever it was primitively filed, due to the fact that the union’s summary judgement question amounted to a concession that the national tribunal does not person jurisdiction due to the fact that helium does not person standing. He argued that his deposition grounds from the erstwhile lawsuit – which, remember, was the ground of the union’s summary judgement lawsuit – indispensable beryllium excluded. He sought to unit the national defence lawyer who signed a declaration attesting to the accuracy of the deposition to attest due to the fact that that lawyer was not astatine the deposition. (The national said Laccinole’s proposition that its lawyer had perjured himself was “scandalous,” and called his motions “frivolous and time-consuming gripes [that] could beryllium disposed of connected rules-violating grounds.”)

Laccinole besides contended that the national had conceded his arguments by failing to respond successful a timely mode to the requests for admissions helium served with his state-court complaint, insisting that the defense’s purported nonaccomplishment doomed its summary judgement motion. In the alternative, helium asked for further find connected the requests. (The national noted successful its effect that national proceedings judges person already rejected erstwhile Laccinole “tricks” and “discovery gamesmanship.”)

McConnell rejected each of Laccinole’s maneuvers, noting, among different things, that the constabulary national did respond to his requests for admissions aft the suit was removed to national court. Any statement that the national waited excessively long, the justice said, should person been raised successful effect to the answer, not successful Laccinole’s summary judgement opposition. The justice besides said that Laccinole cannot present assertion that helium needs find based connected the union’s answers to his requests for admittance due to the fact that helium could person sought that find earlier the summary judgement briefing.

Laccinole, McConnell said, simply is not entitled to the procedural leeway typically afforded to pro se plaintiffs. “While helium whitethorn not person graduated instrumentality schoolhouse oregon passed the barroom exam, helium is acold much blase successful matters of litigation than galore caller practitioners who bash not get the payment of the court's dispensation of sticking strictly to the rules,” the justice wrote.

Laccinole made “a strategical litigation determination to not instrumentality find to hold the lawsuit oregon unit a colony successful lieu of discovery,” the justice said. So present helium is “hoisted with his ain petard.”

The national pointed retired successful its little replying to Laccinole’s summary judgement absorption arguments that Rhode Island judges person seen truthful galore of his pro se suits that the courts present person an informal “Laccinole Rule” against his arguments that defendants indispensable respond to state-court requests for admittance wrong 30 days adjacent if cases are removed to national court. It’s time, the national said, to unopen down the pro se plaintiff’s game.

McConnell seems to person agreed.

'Professional' robocall plaintiffs and the 'zone of interest' defense

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