Kate C. Goldberg contributed to writing this article.

In TCPA litigation, one of the most important goals of any defendant is to ensure that the class certification prerequisites are scrupulously applied and that no class is certified unless those requirements are clearly satisfied. A sprawling class action with potential aggregate statutory damages multiplied by hundreds or thousands of calls, texts or faxes takes what would be a modest individual case to a threat to the corporate defendant’s balance sheet. Thus, we are always eager to report on decisions examining the standards for class certification of TCPA claims.

One such recent case is Brian J. Lyngaas, DDS, PLLC v. IQVIA, Inc., which turned on the threshold issue of class ascertainability and whether transmission of a fax from a covered entity necessarily means that a class member received a fax. In Lyngaas, the plaintiff was a dental practice that claimed defendant IQVIA sent unsolicited fax advertisements inviting participation in a health care survey. Brian J. Lyngaas, D.D.S., P.L.L.C. v. IQVIA, Inc., No. 20-2370, 2025 WL 3565507 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 12, 2025). As the court noted, ascertainability requires 1) that the class be defined by reference to objective criteria and 2) that there is a reliable and administratively feasible mechanism for determining whether putative class members fall within the class definition. Id. at *1-2.

In an earlier opinion in July 2024, the court found that the proposed class was not ascertainable because whether a fax had actually been received by a given individual was unclear, and thus there was no administratively feasible way to determine who was and wasn’t a member of the class. Brian J. Lyngaas, D.D.S., P.L.L.C. v. IQVIA, Inc., No. 20-2370, 2024 WL 3360653 (E.D. Pa. July 9, 2024). The plaintiff in Lyngaas had relied on an expert witness and third-party reports to demonstrate that faxes had been transmitted. But the court found these records lacked reliability after a ransomware attack compromised the data. Id. at *5-6. Additionally, the court found that some class members may have consented to the faxes, but determining consent would require individualized inquiries. Id. at *6-7. Because the only available data for identifying class members was unreliable and would require too much individualized inquiry to satisfy Rule 23’s administrative feasibility requirements, the court denied class certification. Id. at *8.

After the Third Circuit issued its decision in Steven A. Conner DPM, P.C. v. Fox Rehab. Services, P.C., which held that class membership depended on whether an individual’s fax number had a “successful” transmission on fax detail reports, and that actual receipt of the faxes was irrelevant for ascertainability, the Lyngaas court ordered the parties to address whether Conner affected its ruling. No. 23-1550, 2025 WL 289230, at *1 (3d Cir. Jan. 24, 2025); Brian J. Lyngaas, D.D.S., P.L.L.C. v. IQVIA, Inc., No. 20-2370, 2025 WL 3565507 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 12, 2025). Upon reviewing that supplemental briefing, the Lyngaas court reaffirmed its denial of class certification. Lyngaas, 2025 WL 3565507, at *3.

In its recent opinion, the Lyngaas court first noted that Conner does not have precedential value because unpublished Third Circuit opinions do not bind district courts. Id. at *2. Even under Conner’s analysis, however, the result would be the same because the plaintiff’s evidence did not provide a reliable or practical way to identify class members (defined as those to whom the faxes were sent), regardless of whether actual receipt is required. Id. at *2-3. The court reaffirmed that ascertainability remains a necessary threshold that requires easy identification of class members without guesswork or individualized fact-finding. Id. at *1-2.

Lyngaas reminds defendants of the importance of opposing class certification by focusing on the reliability and practicality of identification methods. Plaintiffs must provide clear and verifiable evidence and an easily administrated methodology to meet the threshold ascertainability standard.