Southern Power to Seek ‘Early’ Summary Judgment vs. TCPA Plaintiff
Defendant Southern Power plans to file “an early motion” for summary judgment against pro se plaintiff Lee Cunningham’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint, said a joint status report Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Middle Alabama in Montgomery. Cunningham alleges…
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Southern Power inundated him with debt-collection calls using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS), and the calls persisted even after he asked the company to stop, said the report. Southern Power “had no involvement in the alleged conduct and is not a proper defendant to this action,” it said. Southern Power is a wholesale power company, “not a regulated utility that services residential consumers,” has never called his cellphone for any purpose, “much less” with an ATDS, it said. Cunningham acknowledges the calls originated with Alabama Power, with which he has an account, but Southern Power and Alabama Power are separate legal entities, it said. Despite Southern Power having no role in the alleged conduct, Cunningham “presumably intends to proceed against Southern Power” because it and Alabama Power are sister subsidiaries of Southern Co., it said: “Southern Power would not oppose a motion to substitute parties.”