On June 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., et al., settling an issue that has lingered over litigation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for the past several years. In a badly fractured opinion featuring multiple concurrences and dissents, a majority of the Court held that … Continue Reading
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Duran v. La Boom Disco, Inc. has interrupted the emerging consensus around the definition of “autodialer” in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). On April 7, 2020, a Second Circuit panel joined a Ninth Circuit panel in adopting a broad reading of the statutory definition of … Continue Reading
Health care providers and government officials have more clarity regarding the ability to place certain calls and texts about the novel coronavirus, thanks to recent action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
On March 20, 2020, the FCC released a Declaratory Ruling confirming that the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus qualifies as an emergency under the Telephone Consumer Protection … Continue Reading
Slowly but surely, the U.S. Courts of Appeal increasingly agree on how to interpret the definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (“ATDS” or “autodialer”) in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). On February 19, 2020, a unanimous Seventh Circuit panel refused to revise a putative class action in Gadelhak v. AT&T Services, Inc. after concluding that the dialing system used … Continue Reading
On January 27, 2020, an Eleventh Circuit panel released a landmark ruling in Glasser v. Hilton Grand Vacations Company, LLC. The key issue in the case was how to interpret ambiguous language in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS or autodialer). In recent years, imprecise statutory phrasing and the Federal Communication Commission’s … Continue Reading
It was a very busy year on the robocall front, and on 30 December 2019, President Trump signed into law the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151), which the House and Senate passed by wide, bipartisan margins earlier this year.
The TRACED Act is the most significant robocall legislation in years. It requires the … Continue Reading
On December 19, 2019, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151), which the House of Representatives passed in a 417-3 vote earlier this month. With the Senate’s passage of the reconciled bill, the bipartisan legislation now heads to President Trump’s desk for his review.
The Pallone-Thune TRACED … Continue Reading
On October 2, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Consumer Call Protection Act of 2019 to address the rise in deceptive robocalls and protect California consumers from fraudulent calls.
The law requires telecommunications service providers to implement Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (STIR) and Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN) protocols by January 1, 2021. These protocols are … Continue Reading
On June 20, 2019, the Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision in PDR v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic. The Court was expected to provide greater clarity about the extent to which litigants can challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) interpretations in private litigation. Instead of deciding that issue, however, the Court vacated the Fourth … Continue Reading
In St. Louis Heart Center v. Nomax, Inc., the Eighth Circuit held that an “alleged failure to provide a technically compliant opt-out notice” in a fax advertisement, without more, does not give a plaintiff Article III standing to bring a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) claim.
The Eighth Circuit’s decision requires that the alleged injury be “traceable” to statutory … Continue Reading
Both Chambers of Congress are considering legislation that would amend the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). Introduced in the House by Congressman Pallone (H.R. 6026) and in the Senate (S. 3078) by Senator Markey, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act adds a new definition, “robocall,” in place of “automated telephone dialing system.” The new term would include devices that make calls … Continue Reading
As the number of frivolous Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) class actions continues to grow unabated, the potential rewards have even led to alleged criminal activity by plaintiff firms seeking to game the system. A recently settled Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) complaint showcases a particularly egregious series of allegations that several plaintiffs’ law firms conspired with other … Continue Reading
Now that the dust has settled from the D.C. Circuit’s highly anticipated Telephone Consumer Protection Act decision in ACA International, et al, v. FCC, the Federal Communications Commission is going back to the drawing board in a new Public Notice that seeks comment on foundational TCPA issues.
In March, the D.C. Circuit struck down the FCC’s 2015 interpretation of … Continue Reading
Growing evidence suggests that existing Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) compliance challenges, and the current TCPA litigation landscape, are increasingly a threat to many U.S. companies – particularly small businesses that have fewer resources and could face financial ruin if targeted by a class action lawsuit. To help address this issue and support the U.S. economy, Congress and the Federal … Continue Reading
A new study has found that litigation involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) has increased 50 percent since the Federal Communications Commission released its July 2015 “Omnibus” Declaratory Ruling and Order, which had purported to clarify several issues around the agency’s TCPA rules. As explained below, this continuing trend is one of many reasons that Congress and the … Continue Reading
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has adopted a Notice of Apparent Liability (“NAL”) imposing a $82 million penalty against Best Insurance Contracts (d/b/a Wilmington Insurance Quotes) and its owner/operator Philip Roesel for allegedly making more than 21 million prerecorded robocalls with illegally “spoofed” caller ID information in an attempt to sell health insurance.… Continue Reading
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has adopted a Forfeiture Order (“Order”) imposing a nearly $2.9 million penalty against Dialing Services, LLC (“Dialing Services”) for making prerecorded voice calls to wireless phones without the “prior express consent” of the called parties. This Order is notable because the FCC targeted the technology platform provider rather than the provider’s customer.… Continue Reading
On June 22, 2017, in Reyes v. Lincoln Automotive Financial Services, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed with Hogan Lovells attorneys representing the defendant and held that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) does not permit a consumer to revoke her consent to be called when that consent forms part of a bilateral contract. The … Continue Reading
On September 11, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Enforcement Bureau issued citations to F.N.B. Corporation (First National Bank or FNB) and Lyft, Inc. (Lyft), a ride-sharing service, for Telephone Consumer Protect Act (TCPA) violations pertaining to the marketing rules.
As background, the TCPA requires companies to obtain “prior express written consent” for all prerecorded or autodialed marketing calls or … Continue Reading
Michele Farquhar and Mark W. Brennan authored an article for the December 2012 issue of E-Commerce Law & Policy. Titled “The US Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Litigation Risk,” the article highlights a number of recent Telephone Consumer Protection Act legal developments and their impact on mobile financial services and other new wireless services and technologies. The article is … Continue Reading
