Southern Power Denies TCPA Violations, Says It Doesn’t Call Consumers

Days after pro se plaintiff Lee Cunningham sought a default judgment against Southern Power for failing to answer his Oct. 19 Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint (see 2302060039), the utility responded Wednesday with a denial (docket 2:22-cv-00621) in U.S. District Court for Middle Alabama in Montgomery that it does business as Alabama Power, as Cunningham alleges. Southern Power and Alabama Power are separate companies, and Southern Power “denies that it has had any relationship or contact” with Cunningham, it said. Southern Power is a wholesale power generator, “and does not have direct business dealings with consumers,” it said. It “further denies” it violated the TCPA because it didn't place any calls to Cunningham, it said. His TCPA claim is barred for lack of Article III standing because he “has not suffered an injury in fact that is either particularized or concrete,” it said. The TCPA’s statutory damages terms violate the due process clause of the Fifth and 14th amendments, which prohibit the imposition of “grossly excessive or arbitrary punishment on a defendant,” it said. Cunningham of Brierfield, Alabama, alleges Southern Power inundated him with debt-collection calls “with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to harass.”