When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission[1] in March 2018, many viewed the decision as a potential swan song for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Experts predicted the FCC, buoyed by Chairman Ajit Pai, would step in quickly to reform existing regulatory guidance interpreting the statute.

After all, before his promotion to chairman, Pai decried the FCC’s 2015 order interpreting the TCPA as “dramatically expand[ing] the TCPA’s reach.”[2] Now, almost a year and a half has passed since the ACA International decision, and the industry is still waiting on FCC rulemaking. In the interim, we have seen a TCPA in conflict. On one hand, there have been several astonishing jury verdicts in TCPA class actions. While, on the other, many courts have taken steps to lessen the TCPA’s reach and impact. Ultimately, the TCPA remains in chaos while the industry waits for the FCC to step into the void.

Read the full article in Law360 here.