The portion of 47 U.S.C. 227(b) added in 2015 to exempt calls to collect debts owed to or guaranteed by the federal government from the TCPA's ban on robocalls to cellphones is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. The exception is content-based as it draws distinctions based on the message conveyed in the telephone call. The exception may be invalidated… Read More
In a junk fax case brought under the TCPA, the recipient's "prior express invitation or permission," like consent in an unsolicited telephone call case, is an affirmative defense with respect to which the court, when weighing class certification, considers only the defenses the defendant has actually advanced and for which it has presented evidence. Read More
Plaintiff could not state a TCPA claim against defendant HMO after it auto-dialed her seeking feedback on one of its in-network doctors, because she gave her consent to be contacted for a variety of purposes including quality improvement. Read More
Any Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim necessarily involves an invasion of privacy, so such a claim fell within the invasion of privacy exclusion to the insured's directors & officers insurance policy. Read More
An advertiser bears vicarious liability for a telemarketer’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations, if the telemarketer was an agent rather than an independent contractor Read More
Plaintiff had standing to sue under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, but not the UCL for unwanted text messages soliciting him to renew a gym membership, but the claims were properly dismissed because plaintiff expressly consented to receive the messages by giving his phone number to the gym, and merely allowing his gym membership to lapse did not revoke that… Read More
An unaccepted Rule 68 offer of judgment for individual injunctive relief and the full amount of statutory damages for the named plaintiff does not moot out a putative class action even when backed by a deposit in court of the statutory damages. Read More
