Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Campbell-Ewald Co.
v. Gomez, a closely watched Telephone Consumer Protection Act
(TCPA) case. The plaintiff, Gomez, filed a TCPA class action after
he received allegedly unwanted (and therefore illegal) text
messages from an advertising firm, Campbell-Ewald. Under the TCPA,
Gomez could recover $500 in statutory damages, with the potential
to triple that amount if he could prove Campbell-Ewald willfully
violated the TCPA. Hoping to cut off the certification of a
potential class, Campbell-Ewald made a creative decision—it
offered to pay Gomez $1500, the full amount he could potentially
recover on his individual claim. When he declined—no doubt so
the lawyers could pursue the far more lucrative class
claims—Campbell-Ewald made an offer of judgment in the same
amount. Again, Gomez declined. Campbell-Ewald then moved to dismiss
the case, arguing that the case became moot and no longer presented
a "case" or "controversy" under
