MILWAUKEE (Legal Newsline) – A Wisconsin personal injury firm has filed its second class action lawsuit over unsolicited faxes, this time against a company that helps fund lawsuits.
The Milwaukee firm Urban & Taylor filed its complaint on May 29 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, alleging Los Angeles-based FairWorth Legal Finance violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending it an unsolicited fax.
The defendant removed the case to federal court on Aug. 14.
“Unsolicited faxes damage their recipients,” the lawsuit says. “A junk fax wastes the recipient’s fax machine paper and ink toner. An unsolicited fax wastes the recipient’s valuable time that would have been spent on something else.”
According to its website, Urban & Taylor is a plaintiffs firm that practices in the areas of automobile accidents, vaccine injuries and nursing home abuse, among other subjects.
It also says one of its attorneys, Jay Urban, is in the process of reviewing lawsuit claims for men who have experienced chemical burns or allergic reactions after using the “Just For Men” hair coloring product.
Urban has served on the board of governors of the Wisconsin Association for Justice, the state’s trial lawyers group, since 1998. Scott Taylor also serves on the board.
FairWorth Legal Finance, according to its site, provides non-recourse cash advances to plaintiffs who have lawsuits pending and need financial help with living expenses and litigation costs.
FairWorth is part of an industry, referred to by some as "lawsuit lending," that has fought regulation, saying its cash advances are not technically loans because if a plaintiff loses, a company does not receive its advance back.
In its answer to the complaint, FairWorth says it has not violated any laws. It admitted that it sent a one-page fax to the firm on Dec. 18, and then another on April 24.
It also says that it has transmitted the same fax to more than 100 other numbers.
Urban & Taylor is seeking $500 for each violation of the TCPA. The firm is representing itself in the case.
It is the firm's second TCPA case, having sued American Registry of Florida in 2014. However, the firm voluntarily dismissed the case because it did not serve the defendant properly.
From Legal Newsline: Reach editor John O’Brien at jobrienwv@gmail.com.