TCPA litigation is running rampant in courts throughout the country. Automatic telephone dialing systems, or “ATDSs” or “autodialers”, are at the heart of virtually every TCPA case involving cell phones. Why? Because if a call to a person’s cell phone was not made with an ATDS as defined by the statute, there is virtually no
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in late June 2014 responded to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ request in Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau for the FCC to opine on a specific question. The Second Circuit asked whether prior express consent existed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for an individual’s provision of a
In a novel ruling, the Ninth Circuit expressly adopted an opinion from the Federal Communications Commission, finding the potential for vicarious liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. In Thomas v. Taco Bell Corp., No. 12-56458 (unpublished), the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s holding that Taco Bell was not vicariously liable under the
On March 27, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued two declaratory rulings regarding the definition of “prior express consent” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). In the first ruling, Cargo Airline Association obtained an exemption under the TCPA’s “prior express consent” restriction on autodialed and prerecorded telephone calls and text messages to wireless
On Thursday, March 21, 2014, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Dominguez v. Yahoo!, Inc., held that Yahoo did not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because Yahoo’s SMS system could not “randomly or sequentially generate telephone numbers.” The Dominquez court is the most recent to weigh in on one of the most
Few U.S. Supreme Court consumer protection cases over the past year were as closely watched and anxiously anticipated as Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. Scheduled for oral argument on December 4, with a decision anticipated sometime in mid-2014, the housing discrimination case drew attention from cautious onlookers from many