Court rules that there can be no TCPA class action if any user (not just the paid subscriber) of a telephone line can sue
A Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) plaintiff and plaintiff’s attorney, Todd Bank, has lost a motion to certify a class action he brought against Icot Holdings based on two calls he answered on his mother’s landline. Bank v. Icot Holdings, LLC, et al., No. 18-cv-2554 (AMD)(PK), U.S. Dist. LEXIS 676 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 1, 2023). Bank […]
Landmark Win for TCPA Defendants: Supreme Court Narrowly Interprets an “ATDS”
It’s not an April Fools’ Day joke. After years of uncertainty as to what an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) actually means under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Supreme Court has put that question to rest. On April 1, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid that “[t]o qualify as […]
Which Curfew Statute Applies When a Consumer Uses a Mobile Telephone Number?
Summary Regarding mobile phones, the FCC will likely apply the current logic used for landlines. That is to say, if a consumer at her sole discretion moved but kept the same mobile number and old area code, and did not notify the caller of the new address, the caller could rely on the old area […]
Does Your Business Need to Keep an “Internal” “Do-Not-Call” List?
I received a very strange call yesterday from a female name and caller ID that I did not recognize. The male caller identified himself using a different name and asked to be put on my “internal” “do-not call” list. He explained that he had received two calls from my company today at his work, was […]
New York Passes Law Effectively Becoming a Two-Party Consent State for Call Recording
On August 21, 2017, New York amended its telemarketing disclosure law to require prompt disclosure of whether the call is being recorded. The law, which goes into effect immediately, applies to business to consumer sales calls. Inbound calls are exempt, as are calls to businesses and calls which do not complete a sale until a […]
Are “ringless voicemail” calls exempt from the TCPA?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prohibits any person from making any call using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or prerecorded message to any cell phone number or other service for which the called party is charged without the prior express consent of the called party. 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii). For this reason, companies […]
Confused about the TCPA, TSR, FCC, and FTC? A Key to Acronyms and Jurisdiction
As of May 19, 2017 the Federal Trade Commission changed its rule governing “soundboard technology” and is no longer exempt from the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The exemption originated from a 2009 letter and has caused no end to confusion as it bound the FTC, only. “Soundboard technology” allows a live operator to use snippets of […]
Are offers of employment “advertisements” or “telemarketing” calls under the TCPA?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibits autodialed or prerecorded “advertisement” or “telemarketing” calls unless made with the prior express written consent of the recipient. But are genuine offers of employment subject to this restriction? The Federal Communication Commission’s regulations define “advertisement” as “any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or […]
Be Cautious of the Honeypot or You Might Get Stung
Before a phone number can be assigned and given to a consumer, telephone carriers test the number to see if it receives a large amount of phone calls. Because consumers do not want a new phone number that receives numerous unsolicited calls, the numbers receiving large amounts of calls are taken off the market and […]
Supreme Court May Halt Future TCPA Class Actions
Plaintiffs’ attorneys love to sue under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and for good reason—the TCPA permits class action lawsuits for $500 or more per unsolicited telephone call even if plaintiffs have suffered no actual harm from those calls. This windfall, however, may conflict with the United States Constitution. Under Article III of the […]