949-350-3663 HEART & SOIL GETS DUNKED ON IN TCPA SUIT: TCPA Defendant's Counterclaim Tossed as "Redundant" As Gerald Lane Cruises to Win. Friday, October 30, 2026 I always lived by the mantra: you can say a lot of things about me but you can never say I'm boring. So it is with our legal practice at Troutman Amin, LLP. We dream up new ideas all the time- and have a ton of first-in-the-nation wins as a result. And you can never say our arguments are dull- or redundant. But that was not the case for a TCPA defendant facing a class action in So. Cal. this week. And they got absolutely dunked on by bulk-filer Gerald Lane. In Bathersfield v. Heart & Soil Supplements, 2026 WL 3259806 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2026) the defendant tried to bring a counterclaim against the plaintiff for breach of contract and declaratory relief. Now the breach of contract claim should have stuck to some degree- the plaintiff had agreed to terms indemnifying the defendant for any losses arising out of his violation of the terms and conditions of the website where he submitted his webform. Arguably his lawsuit violated the terms of the agreement. So this claim probably should have stuck around. But there was a problem. Rather than just plead a breach of contract claim the defendant decided to bring a "redundant" declaratory relief claim asking the court to rule on several legal issues underlying the Plaintiff's claim- but the court would do that anyway in determining the merits of the actual lawsuit. In essence the defendant was trying to pig out- it wanted to waste the court's time dealing with a separate vehicle to answer questions IT wanted answered despite the fact those issues were already going to be addressed in the main suit. And that got the ball rolling. Once the court granted a rare motion to strike the counterclaim- finding it was wholly redundant of the main action- it didn't stop there. It went on to throw out the entire breach of contract claim as well. Eesh. Tough (unnecessary) loss. Plus this was Gerald Lane winning again! When Gerald Lane gets your entire counterclaim struck you know there's a problem. I'm not saying he's a bad lawyer. Just saying he's not a guy that should be dunking on people like this. Eesh again. Just goes to show, don't be boring (or redundant.) Chat soon. Current public notices. Published: 29 October, 2026 Published: 27 October, 2026 Published: 26 October, 2026 Published: 22 October, 2026 Published: 2 October, 2026 Published: 25 September, 2026 Published: 24 September, 2026

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