During these challenging times, Severson & Werson remains open and in full operation, consistent with the firm’s previously established contingency planning. While many of our attorneys and staff will be working remotely, as a firm, we continue in full operation. We are here to help, as always.

Effective, Experienced, Exceptional.

Firm Profile

CEB Prac. Guide § 2B.05: "Call" Defined -- Text Messages

Subscribe to Consumer Finance

Thank you for your desire to subscribe to Severson & Werson’s Consumer Finance Weblog. In order to subscribe, you must provide a valid name and e-mail address. This too will be retained on our server. When you push the “subscribe button”, we will send an electronic mail to the address that you provided asking you to confirm your subscription to our Weblog. By pushing the “subscribe button”, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old, are the owner/authorized user of that e-mail address, and are entitled to receive e-mails at that address. Our weblog will retain your name and e-mail address on its server, or the server of its web host. However, we won’t share any of this information with anyone except the Firm’s employees and contractors, except under certain extraordinary circumstances described on our Privacy Policy and (About The Consumer Finance Blog/About the Appellate Tracker Weblog) Page. NOTICE AND AGREEMENT REGARDING E-MAILS AND CALLS/TEXT MESSAGES TO LAND-LINE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONES: By providing your contact information and confirming your subscription in response to the initial e-mail that we send you, you agree to receive e-mail messages from Severson & Werson from time-to-time and understand and agree that such messages are or may be sent by means of automated dialing technology. If you have your email forwarded to other electronic media, including text messages and cellular telephone by way of VoIP, internet, social media, or otherwise, you agree to receive my messages in that way. This may result in charges to you. Your agreement and consent also extend to any other agents, affiliates, or entities to whom our communications are forwarded. You agree that you will notify Severson & Werson in writing if you revoke this agreement and that your revocation will not be effective until you notify Severson & Werson in writing. You understand and agree that you will afford Severson & Werson a reasonable time to unsubscribe you from the website, that the ability to do so depends on Severson & Werson’s press of business and access to the weblog, and that you may still receive one or more emails or communications from weblog until we are able to unsubscribe you.

District Court (Cal.) Says Non-Profit Advocacy Group’s Texts’ Endorsement of Products Aligning With Non-Profit’s Mission Eviscerated the TCPA’s Non-Profit Exemption

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Massaro v. Beyond Meat, Inc., No. 3:20-cv-00510-AJB-MSB, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46980, at *15-20 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 12, 2021), Judge Battaglia allowed a TCPA claim to proceed against PETA because their texts endorsing Beyond Meat constituted advertisements. Here, PETA appears to argue there is a blanket exemption for non-profit organizations, (Doc. No. 30-1 at 19-22), while Plaintiff contends PETA's… Read More

District Court (Fla.) Follows 11th Cir. and Says No ATDS Was Used to Send Text Messages

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Northrup v. Innovative Health Ins., No. 8:17-cv-1890-T-36JSS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31851, at *12-21 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 25, 2020), Judge Honeywell granted summary judgment to a TCPA defendant. The Eleventh Circuit's holding that a device qualifies as an ATDS only if it uses a random or sequential number generator resolved a large part of the consolidated appeals. One of… Read More

District Court (Nev.) Finds TCPA Claim Properly Pleaded Against Text Transmitter Service

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Bauman v. Saxe, No. 2:14-cv-01125-RFB-PAL, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23351 (D. Nev. Feb. 13, 2019), Judge Boulware found that a TCPA plaintiff stated a claim against Twilio, who allegedly transmitted telemarking text messages in violation of the TCPA.  The facts alleged were as follows: The Saxe Defendants are: David Saxe; David Saxe Productions, Inc.; David Saxe Productions, LLC; Saxe Management,… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says Mere Passage of Time Does Not Revoke TCPA Consent in Text Message Case, But Scope of Such Consent Was a Triable Issue of Fact

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Walintukan v. SBE Entertainment Group., LLC., 2018 WL 2357763, at *3 (N.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Tigar denied a TCPA defendant's summary judgment motion. Defendants argue that “the text messages involved in this case fall squarely within [the] scope of consent test articulated by the Court of Appeals in Van Patten — both from a temporal and a subject matter standpoint.”… Read More

9th Cir. Affirms Ruling that 3 Lenders/2 Marketing Companies Were Not Vicariously Liable for Text Messager’s TCPA-Violating Texts

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Kristensen v. Credit Payment Services, Inc., 2018 WL 343758, at *3 (C.A.9 (Nev.), 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that 3 lenders and 2 marketing companies were not vicariously liable for an illegal text messaging campaign. Under these settled principles, the district court did not err in concluding that Kristensen failed to raise a genuine issue… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Distinguishes Car-2-Go; Says Confirming Text Might Be An “Advertisement

by Scott J. Hyman |

In San Pedro-Salcedo v. The Haagen-Dazs Shoppe Company, Inc., 2017 WL 4536422, at *2 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Davila found that a confirming text may be, on the facts pleaded, an advertisement that triggers the TCPA. Defendants contend that the text is not advertising or telemarketing because it does not encourage Plaintiff to purchase property, goods or services. Plaintiff argues that the… Read More

District Court (Ind.) Denies Class Cert. in TCPA “Stop-texting” Class Action Because of Individualized Facts as to Whether Means Used to Revoke Consent to Be Called Was Reasonable Under 2015 FCC Order

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Lanteri v. Credit Protection Assocation, LP, 2017 WL 3621299, at *4 (S.D.Ind., 2017), Judge Lawrence refused to certify a TCPA "stop-texting" revocation of consent class action. The FCC has stated that “[c]onsumers have a right to revoke consent, using any reasonable method.” Federal Communications Commission Record, F.C.C. 15-72, 23, appeal docketed as ACA Int'l v. FCC, No. 15-1211 (D.C.C.… Read More

First, they came for the debt collectors. Then, they came for the sports teams. Now, it’s academia. District Court (Ill.) Says DePaul University Can’t Get Out of TCPA Case at the Pleading Stage

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Franklin v. DePaul University, No. 16 C 8612, 2017 WL 3219253 (N.D. Ill. July 28, 2017), Judge Lee allowed a TCPA text message claim to proceed past the pleading stage. DePaul nevertheless asks the Court to ignore Franklin's allegation that he never gave prior express consent, arguing that this allegation is a legal conclusion that “cannot withstand a motion to dismiss.”… Read More

District Court (Wash.) Finds Twilio Might Have Used an ATDS — If it was, in fact, Twilio — But the Texts Were Not Telemarketing

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Wick v. Twilio, Inc., 2017 WL 2964855, at *4 (W.D.Wash., 2017), Judge Laznik found that Twilio might have used an ATDS, if it was Twilio who placed the call. Contrary to Twilio's argument, the FCC has not created a blanket rule immunizing from TCPA liability cloud-based service providers that transmit third-party content. Rather, the totality of the facts and… Read More

District Court (Cal.) Says Text-Message App. Did Not Violate the TCPA

by Scott J. Hyman |

In Reichman v. Pshmark, Inc., 2017 WL 2104273, at *2–3 (S.D.Cal., 2017), the Court granted summary judgment on the basis that totality of the circumstances did not trigger the TCPA. In determining whether an app or its user is the maker of a call, the FCC explained that it looks to “the totality of the facts and circumstances surrounding the… Read More

1 2 3 … 7