ST. LOUIS — U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber has issued a mixed ruling in a suit involving the Telephone Consumer Protect Act in which Ron and Dorit Golan claimed that multiple defendants made approximately 4 million unsolicited pre-recorded calls in promoting the movie "Last Ounce of Courage."
Among the defendants, who've already been dismissed, was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose recorded voice was delivered as part of a marketing campaign for the film.
The plaintiffs originally filed suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court in 2014 against Veritas Entertainment, Veritas Marketing Group, Freeats.com d/b/a ccAdvertising, AIC Communications d/b/a ccAdvertising, Gabriel S. Joseph III, Stephen Wayne Griffin, Mission City Management, Courage 2012, Dr. James R. Leininger, SixDi, Bob Brewer and Huckabee. The case was later removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Other defendants who have already been dismissed include Brewer, SixDi and Mission City.
According to a June 26 article in the Daily Beast, potential class members from Nebraska to Oklahoma recently received mailers "offering the opportunity to join a class-action lawsuit if former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee robocalled their houses with advertisements for a straight-to-DVD movie about the War on Christmas."
In Webber's July 5 ruling, he denied the Golans' first motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of damages. However, Webber granted their second motion for partial summary judgment on the defendants' newly pleaded affirmative defense of consent, their third motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of telemarketing and their fourth motion for partial summary judgment on the defendants' newly pleaded defenses of due care, prior established business relationship and comparative fault.
Webber also denied moves for summary judgment brought by defendants Leininger and Courage 2012.
The 2012 movie, in the Christian drama genre, tells the story about a grieving father who lost his son in battle. The man deals with what he feels is his freedom of religion coming under attack by his local government and an ACLU-like group.