Stoops v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
2016 WL 3566266, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82380, 197 F. Supp. 3d 782 (2016)
ELI5:

Sections

Rule of Law:

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The Legal Principle

This section distills the key legal rule established or applied by the court—the one-liner you'll want to remember for exams.

Facts:

  • Melody Stoops purchased at least thirty-five prepaid cell phones.
  • To activate the phones, Stoops selected zip codes in economically depressed areas of Florida, believing this would increase the likelihood of receiving calls from creditors intended for the numbers' previous owners.
  • Stoops admitted that her sole purpose for acquiring and maintaining these phones was to file TCPA lawsuits as a 'business,' and she did not use them for any personal communication.
  • Stoops purchased 'airtime cards' to add minutes to the phones, with the express purpose of ensuring the phones could continue to receive more calls for potential litigation.
  • Wells Fargo Bank, using an automatic telephone dialing system, placed numerous calls to two of Stoops' phone numbers, attempting to reach its prior customers named 'Newman' and 'Pereira.'
  • Stoops had no prior relationship with Wells Fargo, did not provide the bank with her phone numbers, and did not know the individuals Wells Fargo was trying to contact.
  • Stoops testified that while she sometimes told callers to stop, she hoped they would continue calling to support a claim for knowing and willful TCPA violations, which could result in treble damages.

Procedural Posture:

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How It Got Here

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Issue:

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Legal Question at Stake

This section breaks down the central legal question the court had to answer, written in plain language so you can quickly grasp what's being decided.

Opinions:

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Majority, Concurrences & Dissents

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Analysis:

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Why This Case Matters

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