Defending TCPA and State Mini-TCPA Text-Message Class Actions After McLaughlin

Irina N. Kashcheyeva, Partner | Foley & Lardner LLP

Irina N. Kashcheyeva is a partner in Foley & Lardner LLP’s Detroit office and a member of the firm’s Consumer Law, Finance and Class Action Working Group and its Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. A commercial litigator, she defends companies in class action and single-plaintiff cases under the TCPA, the FCRA, the FDCPA and Regulation F, UDAAP theories, the FTC Holder Rule, and a range of state consumer protection and privacy statutes, with regular work for clients in the healthcare, financial services, and automotive manufacturing sectors.

• Education & Credentials

Irina earned her law degree from Michigan State University College of Law, where her scholarship appeared in the Michigan State Law Review. Before entering private practice, she served as a law clerk to two federal judges, at the district court and court of appeals levels. She is fluent in Russian.

• Recognition & Leadership

Irina was elected to the Foley & Lardner partnership effective February 1, 2023, as part of a class of 23 lawyers recognized as leaders across the firm’s practice groups and offices.

• Professional Involvement

Irina writes frequently on consumer protection and TCPA developments. Her publications include analyses of the D.C. Circuit’s decision limiting the reach of the TCPA, the vacatur of the FCC’s One-to-One Consent Rule the day before it was set to take effect, standing arguments in data breach litigation, and requirements-contract law in the Michigan Business Law Journal and on Foley’s Consumer Defense Counsel blog.

• Experience

Irina’s experience includes first-chairing arbitration hearings and court trials, preparing successful dispositive motions, opposing class certification, and handling the full range of discovery motion practice. She obtained dismissal of a putative TCPA class action against a marketing company at the pleadings stage by defeating agency and vicarious liability allegations, and she represented a Fortune 50 pharmacy in one of the largest TCPA class actions in the country, securing voluntary dismissal with prejudice on the eve of the class certification and summary judgment hearing. She has also first-chaired a lengthy arbitration for a pharmacy benefit manager in a significant breach of contract and business torts dispute.

Virginia Bell Flynn, Partner | Troutman Pepper Locke LLP

Virginia Bell Flynn is a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Consumer Financial Services practice, within the Financial Services Litigation group. She represents clients in federal and state courts at both the trial and appellate levels in complex litigation and business disputes, health care litigation — including ERISA and out-of-network issues — and consumer litigation spanning more than 21 states. She has a long track record of resolving cases under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and its state analogues, and increasingly counsels clients on compliance at the intersection of the TCPA and HIPAA.

• Education & Credentials

Virginia received her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law and her B.A. from The College of Charleston. Before joining the firm, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable R. Terrence Ney of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Fairfax, Virginia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Virginia has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® for Consumer Law, Commercial Litigation, Health Care Law, and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, and she received a 2019 Law360 Rising Star award in consumer protection law, selected from more than 1,300 nominees as one of 175 attorneys under 40. She also serves as a co-leader of the Consumer Financial Services practice group’s AI task force.

• Professional Involvement

Virginia writes and speaks regularly on TCPA developments, co-authoring an early analysis of McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp. for the American Bar Association’s Consumer Litigation Newsletter and appearing on The Consumer Finance Podcast’s TCPA year-in-review episodes. Her commentary has also appeared in Law360 and on the firm’s Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor.

• Experience

Virginia’s results include summary judgment for Anthem, Inc. in a first-of-its-kind TCPA prerecorded-message putative class action in the Northern District of Ohio; dismissal with prejudice of a TCPA putative class action over informational health care text messages in the Eastern District of Louisiana; dismissal with prejudice at the pleadings stage of a putative TCPA class action for a California-based medical group; and defeat of class certification in a Rosenthal Act class action. She serves as compliance counsel on TCPA and TSR issues for national health insurers, pharmacies, banks, debt collectors, advertising and broadcasting companies, and other consumer-facing businesses.

Chad R. Fuller, Partner | Troutman Pepper Locke LLP

Chad R. Fuller is a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s San Diego office and a versatile litigator whose practice spans the managed care and financial services sectors. He defends insurers, managed care organizations, and financial services clients in single-plaintiff and multidistrict matters, and he defends clients against claims under the federal consumer protection statutes, especially the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. His systematic approach to high-stakes litigation draws on experience managing hundreds of TCPA cases.

• Education & Credentials

Chad earned his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego. He is admitted to practice in California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chad is recognized in Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation. As one of the few attorneys in the United States who tries TCPA cases to verdict, he is go-to counsel for financial services clients facing major consumer class action litigation.

• Professional Involvement

Chad writes and speaks frequently on TCPA developments. His recent co-authored work includes “Why Does the TCPA Equal Chaos? The US Supreme Court Opens FCC Orders to New Challenges,” an early analysis of McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp. for the American Bar Association’s Consumer Litigation Newsletter, and an examination of the Eleventh Circuit’s reopening of the TCPA “lead generator loophole.” He is a regular guest on The Consumer Finance Podcast’s TCPA year-in-review episodes.

• Experience

Chad serves as lead trial counsel in complex managed health care litigation involving bad faith, breach of contract, improper billing, Mental Health Parity Act, and out-of-network claims. He has defended consumer class actions alleging false advertising, product defects, and improper fees for software, telecommunications, home warranty, insurance brokerage, and auto finance companies, and he defends clients in privacy and data security litigation while advising on associated regulatory issues. His results include dismissal with prejudice at the pleadings stage of a putative TCPA class action for a California-based medical group under the FCC’s emergency-purpose exception.

SESSION 1 – Defending TCPA Text Class Actions: Standing, Dismissal, and Settlement | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session covers defense-side litigation strategy for TCPA and state mini-TCPA text-message class actions following the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp. Attorneys will learn how to deploy standing challenges, the emerging texts-versus-telephone-calls dismissal argument, arbitration and class-certification defenses, and state mini-TCPA exposure analysis. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for early-exit motions, class-cert opposition, and informed settlement benchmarking.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Building a Defensible Text-Messaging Consent and Compliance Record | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session examines how to construct a text-messaging consent and compliance record that will withstand TCPA litigation and regulatory scrutiny in the post-McLaughlin, post-Chevron environment. Attorneys will learn how the Supreme Court’s 2025 McLaughlin decision, the growing circuit split on whether texts are statutory ‘calls,’ revised FCC revocation rules, and a patchwork of state mini-TCPA statutes collectively reshape what a defensible consent record must contain. Attendees will leave with a concrete framework for consent capture, revocation processing, recordkeeping retention, and state-by-state compliance mapping.