Local lawyer’s lawsuit over campaign phone calls dropped

Harford County (Map, News) - A Harford County court has dismissed a lawsuit a Forest Hill lawyer brought against national, state and county officials for allegedly not leaving a callback number on their automated campaign messages.

Michael Worsham argued that not leaving a phone number to call and be removed from the call list violated the state and federal Telephone Consumer Protection Acts. Those laws require any solicitation call to someone’s home to provide the name of the caller, whom the call is being made for and contact information, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The court ruled that campaign committees made the calls, and that the candidates are separate entities that are not responsible.

“The plaintiff’s argument is akin to an actor in an advertisement being held responsible for an FCC violation, not the television network, advertising agency or corporation responsible for the advertisement,” according to court documents.

Worsham filed suit in Harford County Circuit Court last Nov. 6 against County Executive David Craig; then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich and running mate Kristin Cox; Harford Clerk of the Circuit Court James Reilly; and Common Sense Ohio, which made calls for Michael Steele’s Senate campaign.

Since then, Worsham added to the lawsuit presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who spoke on behalf of Ehrlich and Cox, and Freeeats.com, an organization based in Northern Virginia that solicits for candidates.

Ehrlich and Craig first filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, but dropped them after Giuliani filed one May 1.

“He had better lawyers than the others,” Worsham previously told The Examiner about Giuliani.

“I’m still evaluating the opinion and deciding what I might do next,” Worsham said Wednesday. He declined to elaborate.

All defendants were Republicans.

Worsham contributed $475 to five Democratic candidates’ campaigns in the past five years, including Gov. Martin O’Malley’s, according to the National Center for the Study of Elections.

Ehrlich’s spokesman did not return a call for comment, and Craig’s declined to comment.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com

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