Identifying the correct TCPA defendant - Will the right Bright Solar Marketing step forward?
- Peter Schneider
- Jun 3
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 22
We were doing some legal research today and ran into an interesting situation a TCPA plaintiff has fallen into, and we wanted to share our thoughts on how a similarly situated telephone consumer protection act plaintiff could get past it.
The issue is finding the defendant(s) responsible for unwanted telephone calls when all you have to go on is a corporation name.
The lawsuit is Doughty v Bright Solar Marketing in the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.
*** see after this section for a big update
I didn't pull the complaint, and I am paraphrasing the facts as they are presented in the motion to compel. It seems a Mr. Doughty sued Bright Solar Marketing LLC over 137 unwanted telemarketing calls placed by or on behalf of Bright Solar Marketing.
Apparently Mr. Doughty sent who he thought was the correct Bright Solar Marketing a complaint about the calls, and a Freedom Forever LLC responded with a supposed opt in that justified the calls. Mr. Doughty then sued them both, but apparently Bright Solar Marketing/Freedom Forever talked Mr. Doughty into dismissing the lawsuit against Freedom Forever.
Mr. Doughty then served discovery requests on Bright Solar Marketing thinking he had the correct defendant, and Bright Solar Marketing LLC came back with an interesting legal strategy, play dead with answers like Interrogatory #1, #3, and #13:
1. Did You or did someone on Your behalf (including present or former contractors, vendors, agents, officers and/or employees) place a telephone call to the telephone number of Plaintiff or any person with the Telephone Number? If so, how many calls were placed and describe what records You consulted and procedures You undertook to enable You to answer “yes” to this interrogatory.
ANSWER: No.
3. Please describe the factual circumstances that led to the call or calls to Plaintiff’s Telephone Number, including how the Telephone Number was acquired or derived (e.g., from a bulk purchase of telephone numbers; from FOIA requests, skip tracing, or obtaining telephone numbers from public sources, such as police reports or court documents, or through Your or Your vendor’s directory-assisted random-digit telephone samples; using computerized lists; and random-digit-dialing (RDD) or some similar process).
ANSWER: See Response to Interrogatory #1.
13. Please describe Your procedures and Your efforts used to ensure that compliance with the TCPA and TCPA-related regulations, and industry guidelines, including Do-Not-Call registry compliance and internal Do-Not-Call compliance, for placing telephone calls. ANSWER: Because BSM does not make “telephone calls,” it has no need for such procedures.
ANSWER: Because BSM does not make “telephone calls,” it has no need for such procedures.
Mr. Doughty then went through the process of moving the court to compel BSM to provide better responses, and disclose the responsible parties in its initial disclosure.
And BSM's response, after all this time, was to finally explain that Bright Solar Marketing LLC wasn't the correct defendant after all. BSM put forward a declaration of a Taylor Ann Tilby (See Dkt 27). I apologize for the density of acronyms:
I, Taylor Ann Tilby, hereby make this declaration under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, and declare as follows: 1. I have personal knowledge of the following facts and would testify to them if called as a witness in a court of law. This Declaration is based upon my personal knowledge. 2. I am the Appointment Operations Manager for Freedom Solar Services dba Bright Solar Marketing (“FSS BSM”). 3. In that capacity, I am personally familiar with the Bright Solar Marketing, LLC (“BSM LLC”), which I understand to be the defendant in this lawsuit, and its relationship with other entities that I understand have been identified by the Plaintiff in this lawsuit. [this might be the 'glitch' that is tying up Mr. Doughty. Apparently Freedom Solar Services is doing business as Bright Solar Marketing, even as Bright Solar Marketing, LLC is an actual company] 4. I submit this Declaration in support of the Response to the Motion to Compel to be filed by BSM LLC in this case. 5. BSM LLC is a Delaware limited liability company. 6. BSM LLC is not engaged in any business operations. Specifically, BSM LLC: a. Has no employees; b. Has no business operations of its own; c. Does not make telephone calls to consumers; d. Does not send text messages to consumers; e. Has no computer software; f. Has no computer equipment; g. Does not maintain its own website or other internet domain name; h. Has no contracting and/or business relationship(s) with any vendor(s). 7. Accordingly, BSM LLC does not possess or have custody of information or documents that Plaintiff seeks in his discovery requests to BSM LLC. 8. Freedom Forever, LLC is the parent company of BSM LLC. Stated differently, BSM LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Freedom Forever, LLC. 9. Freedom Forever, LLC, FSS BSM, High Roller Marketing, LLC (“HRM”), and BSM LLC are all separate corporate entities. 10. BSM LLC has no employees, directors, or board members. 11. BSM LLC, as a subsidiary of Freedom Forever, LLC, has no ability or power to compel Freedom Forever, LLC to provide or produce documents. In other words, BSM LLC does not have the legal right to obtain documents from Freedom Forever LLC, or any other company owned by Freedom Forever, LLC upon demand. 12. When BSM LLC requests documents from Freedom Forever, LLC, Freedom Forever, LLC is not required to provide such documents. Instead, Freedom Forever, LLC determines whether to grant the request (assuming it has the requested documents) pursuant to governing regulations and laws, and its own internal policies and practices. 13. FSS BSM has no business relationship with BSM LLC. FSS BSM and BSM LLC are separate companies. 14. I am also aware of a subpoena served in this case upon HRM. 15. HRM is a “lead generation” company. HRM is a subsidiary of FSS BSM. HRM is a separate company from BSM LLC.
Bright Solar Marketing's five word response to the motion: Plaintiff has sued the wrong company. Ok, the response was longer than five words, but that was the gist of it, along with Taylor Ann Tilby's declaration.
Mr. Doughty came back with a reply:
Despite Bright Solar’s argument that Plaintiff should simply amend the complaint to obtain the discovery he seeks, the parties’ conferrals demonstrate the Bright Solar refuses to identify these entities informally or in formal discovery responses or its initial disclosures, and that it has possession and control to provide the information
The court hasn't ruled on the motion, but on the interrogatories and requests for production, I foresee the judge saying well, their answer is they don't know anything and don't have anything, so how can I compel them to do more?
It is possible that the judge orders Bright Solar Marketing LLC to disclose the business name [if they know it] who was involved with the calls in their initial disclosure, but probably Mr. Doughty has to amend his complaint to name new defendants, and move on. Who to name, who to name? According to Ms. Tilby, a Freedom Solar Services is doing business as Bright Solar Marketing. What can we learn about them?
According to the California Secretary of State, a Freedom Solar Services has the principal business address of 43445 Business Park Drive #104, Temecula CA 92590. Coincidentally, Bright Solar Marketing LLC also has the mailing address of 43445 Business Park Drive #104, Temecula CA 92590. and the two entities share the same specifically named registered agents.
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the trademark Bright Solar Marketing is registered to Freedom Solar Services with address 43445 Business Park Drive #110, Temecula CA 92590, and the attorney of record for the trademark uses the email address legal@freedomforever.com.
Ms. Tilby mentioned a "High Roller Marketing" lead generation company. Website highrollermarketing.com says they offer digital marketing services to the residential solar industry. And they have a distinct logo. That same logo is registered to High Roller Marketing LLC with address 43445 Business Park Drive #104, Temecula CA 92590, and the attorney of record has a legal@freedomforever.com email address. The California Secretary of State also has the 43445 Business Park Drive #104 address for High Roller Marketing.
The website brightsolarmarketing.com lists the address 27368 Via Industria, STE. 11 Temecula, CA 92590, and LoopNet (a large commercial real estate vendor) proudly has a picture a building with large Freedom Forever signage on that address's web page.
What does it all mean? Doughty v Bright Solar Marketing demonstrates a practical hurdle in litigation - finding the culprits in a sea of interrelated corporations with similar names. Mr. Doughty probably did the right thing in naming the most obvious one of them, and now he can amend his complaint to name Freedom Solar Services and possibly High Roller Marketing in the lawsuit, and start over. Of course Bright Solar Marketing LLC knew this all along and was happy to delay the case for months just to run up expenses and hassle for Mr. Doughty.
Another option Mr. Doughty could take is do a foundational FRCP 30(b)(6) deposition of the central figure in this lawsuit - Freedom Forever LLC - and get to the bottom of how all these companies with the same lawyers and the same addresses are related and what business operations each of them conduct.
*** update
Bright Solar Marketing made all these representations that they were essentially a defunct business with no employees or phone calls, but this runs against what they said in a couple of October 13, 2022 depositions.
Q. When you say "review appointments," what do you mean by appointments?
A Appointments made by the call center, making sure that they are qualified appointments.
Q When you say "appointments set by the call center," what do you mean by the call center?
A Bright Solar Marketing.
Q Is Bright Solar Marketing the call center for Freedom Forever?
A There are separate entities; however, at first when I started, we were qualifying appointments for Bright Solar Marketing the call center.
Q You said "qualifying appointments from Bright Solar Marketing's call center"; is that correct?
A Yes.
Q Does Freedom Forever use any call centers other than ones associated with Bright Solar Marketing for setting appointments?
A No.
⋮
Q What were your responsibilities as a compliance manager at Bright Solar Marketing?
A I managed a team of individuals that listened to calls made by the Bright Solar Marketing call center and made sure that our agents were asking the correct questions and being compliant on calls and setting appointments to the best of their ability and providing feedback to the call center manager.
Q Do you understand that today you're being deposed on behalf of Bright Solar Marketing?
A Yes.
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Q In the past, since July 1st, 2021, has Bright Solar Marketing made calls for setting appointments on behalf of any company other than Freedom Forever?
A They set appointments for a network of independent authorized dealers.
Q Who are those independent authorized dealers affiliated with?
A Freedom Forever.
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Q Do you believe it's at least 20 call center employees that Bright Solar Marketing employs?
A Yes.
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Q Do you know how many different sources Bright Solar Marketing gets leads from?
A One.
Q What is that source?
A That source is High Roller Marketing.
Q Has High Roller Marketing been the only source of leads to Bright Solar Marketing since July 1st, 2021?
A To the best of my knowledge, yes.
⋮
Q What happens when a lead comes in from High Roller to Bright Solar Marketing?
A An outbound phone call is made to set an appointment to the homeowner.
Q Is it made by one of the call center agents?
A Yes.
But then see part 2 of the Bright Solar Marketing LLC deposition, where the deponent Weldon Fortenberry the Third worked for Freedom Forever or Freedom Solar Services d/b/a Bright Solar Marketing.
During his deposition the question was asked Q Are you familiar with the entity, Bright Solar Marketing, LLC?, and then the follow up Q How is that different than Freedom Solar Services doing business as Bright Solar Marketing? and got the wobbly answer THE WITNESS: I mean, my understanding, it's the same, but I -- I might not -- I could be wrong.
Then they took a break. After the break they moved on without further exploring this issue. before the question was answered
Bright Solar Marketing in all its flavors seems to be generating conflicting testimony. It will be interesting to see how that works for them. I wrote this article to show some of the trial and error, and detective work you might need to perform to identify the culprit behind your unwanted telephone calls to bring a telephone consumer protection act lawsuit.
*** update
Lawsuit Luckau v. Sunrun, 2025 WL 1797249 (N.D. Cal. June 30, 2025) has a connection to this case via the declaration of Amgelo Torres.
¶5 CEE [Clean Energy Experts, LLC] does business under the trade name “Solar America,” and operates the website www.SolarAmerica.com (the “Solar America Website”), which is used by persons interested in solar energy to obtain information (i.e. whether their homes are suitable for solar energy) and competitive quotes from solar providers, such as SunPower Corp., Bright Solar, Freedom Forever and Sunrun.
¶6 CEE works with hundreds of solar providers across the country, including Sunrun and its competitors, to match prospective customers with appropriate solar providers based on various criteria.
If you received calls or voicemails with the script:
Hello this is Christine with Solar America responding to your request for information on solar energy for your home. We needed a brief moment to verify the information that you submitted, and we'll try to reach you again shortly or feel free to call us back at 1-800-680-8554. Again, that number is 1-800-680-8554. We look forward to speaking with you.
Then it appears Sunrun / Clean Energy Experts, LLC was behind it.
Do you have a question or a telemarketing, debt collection, or bankruptcy case that would make a great blog article? We might even review your pro-se complaint or motion in a blog post. Email peter@nwdebtresolution.com and/or nathen@nwdebtresolution.com and we may answer it for everyone!
Are telemarketers harassing you in Washington, Oregon, or Montana? My Washington State TCPA plaintiff law practice can help, just give us a call at 206-800-6000 or email peter@nwdebtresolution.com.
The thoughts, opinions and musings of this blog are those of Peter Schneider, a consumer advocate and Washington State plaintiff's TCPA attorney at Northwest Debt Resolution, LLC. They are just that, his thoughts, opinions and musings and should be treated as such. They are not legal advice. If you are looking to file a lawsuit for TCPA violations and unwanted calls please contact me for a consultation.