On January 15, in response to a petition from Acurian seeking clarification on the non-commercial purpose exemption, the FCC held that prerecorded calls to residential phone numbers seeking participants for FDA-mandated clinical pharmaceutical trials did not constitute “advertising” or “telemarketing” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) because they “do not identify property, goods, or
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument today in Duguid v. Facebook to decide, once and for all, whether an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS), as defined in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), requires a random or sequential number generator.
Background
In its late 2018 Marks decision, the Ninth Circuit found that storage of
Midwest Recovery Systems (“Midwest Recovery”), a debt collection company, must cease its alleged debt-parking practices, delete all reported debts, and surrender its remaining assets in partial payment of a $24.3 million monetary judgment, under a stipulated order filed by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) last week. Debt parking, also known as “passive debt collection,” occurs
If you have ever leased an apartment, house, or storefront, you have probably agreed to a background check or asked the applicant to do so. What you may not know is that the process of looking into someone’s background is regulated by state, local, and federal law. Here are five points any landlord, tenant, or
Following a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) investigation into its credit reporting procedures, telecommunications debt collector Afni, Inc. agreed Thursday to implement additional safeguards against inaccurate reporting and pay a $500,000 civil penalty.
The CFPB’s investigation found that Afni had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) in several ways. First, Afni had negligently furnished
Two collection agencies agreed to new disclosure requirements when attempting to collect on time-barred debts, in a settlement agreement preliminarily approved by a United States district court judge in Texas last month. The settlement, arising out of a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) class action involving efforts to collect unpaid medical debts, shows concerns