The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the TCPA) restricts telemarketing and the use of automated telephone equipment for phone calls, faxes, and text messages. The TCPA provides a private right of action and significant statutory penalties, and therefore is an area of significant risk for any company that communicates with its customers, particularly by phone or text. In an effort to ease restrictions in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued guidance clarifying that informational calls that are directly related to the imminent health or safety risk arising out of the COVID-19 outbreak and made by certain types of callers are exempt from the TCPA requirements under the “emergency purposes exception.”

Under the TCPA, telemarketers are required to obtain prior express written consent before making calls to landline or wireless phones with prerecorded telemarketing messages and before using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to call or text any wireless phones with telemarketing messages.

Notably, the TCPA expressly excludes calls made for “emergency purposes,” from the Act, including “calls made necessary in any situation affecting the health and safety of consumers.” This exception is intended for situations posing “significant risks to public health and safety” where the use of such calls could “speed the dissemination of information regarding” such risks or conditions.Continue Reading FCC issues guidance on the TCPA’s “emergency purposes exception” based on the COVID-19 pandemic

A federal court in Missouri recently held that a restaurant’s promotional text messages did not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because the messaging equipment used by the restaurant did not qualify as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) as defined by the statute. The district court noted a split between the circuit courts

In a watershed ruling for businesses facing the recent onslaught of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claims, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that consumers cannot revoke their consent to receive automated or prerecorded cell phone calls if they previously consented to receive those calls as part of a binding contract. See Reyes v. Lincoln Automotive Fin. Servs., No. 16-2104-cv, slip op. (2d Cir. June 22, 2017).

In Reyes, the plaintiff entered into a binding auto lease agreement, which contained a provision stating that he expressly consented to be contacted using “prerecorded or artificial voice messages, text messages, emails and/or automatic telephone dialing systems” at the cell phone number he had provided on his application.  When the plaintiff defaulted on his car lease and he started receiving collection calls on his cell phone, he allegedly mailed a letter revoking his consent to receive further calls, but they continued.

The New York federal district court granted summary judgment to the defendant in part on the basis that “the TCPA does not permit a party to a legally binding contract to unilaterally revoke bargained-for consent to be contacted by telephone.” On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision, holding that “the TCPA does not permit a party who agrees to be contacted as part of a bargained-for exchange to unilaterally revoke that consent, and we decline to read such a provision into the act.”Continue Reading Second Circuit Provides Businesses with a Powerful Defense to TCPA Revocation Claims

As the cherry blossoms prepare to bloom in Washington, D.C., our thoughts turn toward wondering when the D.C. Circuit will hand down its ruling in ACA International, et al v. FCC (Case No. 15-1211). This case, you will recall, is the consolidation of a number of appeals challenging the July 10, 2015, Order in which the FCC gave a very expansive reading to a number of provisions in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), long a thorn in the sides of businesses attempting to communicate with their customers by phone or text. Most notably, the Order provided a definition of an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS) that many feel went way beyond the statutory language the Order was purporting to interpret. Moreover, the Order afforded little satisfaction to businesses mistakenly dialing reassigned numbers. Our previous blog posts analyzing the Order and the Appeal predicted that the D.C. Circuit would most likely issue its decision in spring 2017.

And now, spring has sprung, the administration has changed, and so, too, has the chairman of the FCC. Chairman Wheeler, sometimes criticized for interpreting the law liberally to accomplish policy goals, is gone, and in his place is Ajit Pai, a commissioner in the Wheeler era, and now elevated to chair by President Trump. In summer 2015, Mr. Pai was one of two dissenters in the ACA Order; the other, Michael O’Reilly, remains a commissioner under Chairman Pai. Additionally, two of the three “yes” votes in ACA are now gone, with only Commissioner Clyburn still at the Agency, and the president seems in no hurry to fill the vacancies. In any event, filling those vacancies would likely not affect the current balance of power at the Commission.
Continue Reading Recent Open Meeting Foreshadows FCC Commissioners’ Views if ACA Decision Is Remanded

Last week, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued an enforcement advisory reiterating its position that autodialed text messages must comply with requirements set forth in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).  Though it is unclear what prompted this specific advisory (perhaps, the upcoming holiday season), the Enforcement Bureau issued the warning in order to promote understanding

Lyft, Inc. – the popular ride hailing service featuring the iconic pink moustache – is facing a second class action lawsuit in California alleging violations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

This alleges that Lyft sent unwanted and unsolicited text messages to cellphones using an automated dialing system without first obtaining express written consent

TCPA class actions continue to plague companies around the country, but a recent FCC ruling means that one big caller doesn’t have to worry: the federal government, as well as its contractors.

On July 5, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a declaratory ruling that broadly exempted the federal government and its contractors from the requirements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which include obtaining prior express consent before making most calls to mobile phones.
Continue Reading Federal Government and Its Contractors Exempt from the TCPA, FCC Rules

In an instructive opinion on how intangible harms can cause injuries sufficient to confer standing on plaintiffs—and a rare example of the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest ruling on standing aiding plaintiffs—a West Virginia federal court ruled June 30 that computer-dialed telemarketing calls caused concrete, particularized privacy invasions such that plaintiff’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) putative class action claim could move forward.

The ruling in Mey v. Got Warranty, Inc., et al., No. 5:15-cv-00101 (N.D. W.Va. June 30, 2016) provides a contrast to the growing number of dismissals issued by courts across the country finding that, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Spokeo v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), plaintiffs in various cases failed to allege concrete, particularized injuries sufficient for Article III standing.1   Because of this, it may provide guidance for plaintiffs—particularly in the area of technology-related statutes and data breaches, where standing is often an issue—on how to avoid summary dismissal of their claims.  Given the court’s detailed opinion, the import of the holding may extend well beyond the context of the case, in which plaintiff alleged she received numerous robocalls in violation of TCPA provisions barring autodialed, prerecorded messages and calls to those on the National Do Not Call Registry.Continue Reading Federal Court Finds Intangible Harm Caused by Robocalls Sufficient for Post-Spokeo Standing in TCPA Claim Alleging Privacy Invasion