On April 13, 2020, the District Court of Kansas in Hampton v. Barclays Bank Delaware, No. 18-4071-DDC-ADM, 2020 WL 4698476 (D. Kan. Aug. 13, 2020), joined the Seventh and Eleventh Circuits in holding that devices that exclusively dial numbers stored in a customer database do not qualify as autodialers under the TCPA.
The Plaintiff, Anthony Hampton ("Plaintiff"), asserted numerous claims against multiple defendants, including a TCPA claim against Marketplace Loan Grantor Trust, Series 2016-LD1's ("Marketplace"). Specifically, Plaintiff claimed Marketplace violated the ...
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals may now have to decide where it stands on the ATDS issue. On May 20, 2020, Judge Lee Yeakel of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued an opinion in Suttles v. Facebook, Inc., Case No. 1:18-cv-01004 (W.D. Tex. May 20, 2020), where he concluded that a dialing system is not an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (“ATDS”) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) if it does not produce numbers. A copy of the opinion can be read here.
Three circuit courts have previously held that the definition of an ATDS ...
Although courts across the country agree that “a plaintiff class should not be certified unless membership therein is ‘adequately defined and clearly ascertainable,’” the extent of what a plaintiff must provide to satisfy this “implicit requirement” to certification varies among circuit courts. See Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC v. Belcher, No. 18-90011, 2018 WL 3198552, at *3 (11th Cir. June 29, 2018) (citations omitted). For example, some circuit courts have construed the requirement to “mean[] a plaintiff must demonstrate an ‘administratively feasible’ ...
In the wake of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S.Ct. 1540 (May 16, 2016), the Supreme Court decision that had the chance to be legendary, but instead settled for punting back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, we are left wondering who the real winner was and what is the fallout for mere procedural violations of statutes for consumer claims?
Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins: Straight Back to the Ninth Circuit
In a 6-2 decision, with Justice Thomas concurring and Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor dissenting, the Supreme Court held that that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had failed to properly ...
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (U.S. May 16, 2016), a growing trend is emerging with respect to cases involving claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 ("TCPA"). Indeed, while many early decisions held that "a violation of the TCPA is a concrete injury," see, e.g., Rogers v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., No. 1:15-cv-4016, 2016 WL 3162592, at *2 (N.D. Ga. June 7, 2016), more recently, some courts are requiring more. In fact, in Ewing v. SQM US, Inc. et al., Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo of the Southern District of ...
On January 12, 2016, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of class cert. in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 USC 227 action on predominance and superiority grounds in the case Paul Gannon v. Network Telephone Services, Inc., et al., No. 13-56813, 2016 WL 145811 (9th Cir. Jan. 12, 2016). In Gannon, the plaintiff alleged that he called the defendants' phone sex service by accident, and quickly hung up. Nonetheless, plaintiff alleged that several weeks later he began receiving unsolicited text messages in violation of the TCPA. Defendants alleged incoming calls received ...
The writing was on the wall following Justice Elena Kagan's dissent in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. v. Symczyk, 133 S. Ct. 1523 (2013), wherein Justice Kagan blasted the view that an unaccepted offer of complete relief made to a named plaintiff pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 68 is capable of mooting the plaintiff's individual (and putative class) claims as "wrong, wrong, and wrong again," id. at 1533 (Kagan, J., dissenting) - a position that every Court of Appeals to rule on the issue after Genesis Healthcare had adopted - and on January 20, 2016, the Supreme Court made it official. In a 6-3 ...
In Gensel v. Performant Technologies, Inc., No. 13-C-1196, 2015 WL 6158072, (E.D. Wisc. Oct. 20, 2015), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted Performant Technologies, Inc.'s ("Performant") motion to continue the stay pending judicial review of the FCC's July 10 Order. Plaintiff filed suit against Performant alleging violations of the TCPA based on several calls she received from Performant on her cell phone. Plaintiff's cell phone provider assigned her a number that was previously assigned a person who defaulted on a student loan. Performant ...
On October 14, 2015, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Campbell-Ewald Company v. Gomez, 14-SC-857. The plaintiff in Gomez alleged he received an unsolicited marketing text message advertising the US Navy from the marketing firm Campbell-Ewald Company in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The plaintiff sued on the Campbell-Ewald Company on behalf of himself and a putative class. The facts of the case present a classic example of an effort to "pick off" a putative class representative with an offer of judgment under Rule 68 ...
In Danehy v. Time Warner Cable Enterprise LLC, No. 5:14-cv-133, 2015 WL 5534285 (E.D.N.C. Sep. 18, 2015), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina adopted the magistrate's findings that a caller's good-faith belief of consent is a complete defense under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The defendant in Danehy, a cable company, had been asked by one of its customers to perform a service visit. The customer had provided a cell phone number to the defendant as one of his contact numbers. Unbeknownst to the defendant, the cell phone ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently addressed both the timing and scope of "prior express consent" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The plaintiff in Stephen M. Hill v. Homeward Residential, Inc., - F.3d- , No. 14-4168 (6th Cir. Aug. 21, 2015) alleged that his mortgage lender violated the TCPA by calling his cell phone using an autodialer in an attempt to contact him related to a mortgage debt he owed. The plaintiff did not provide his cell phone number when the mortgage was originated, but provided it three years later by contacting the mortgage ...
On August 11, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined Travel Club Marketing, Inc. and its owner $2.96 million dollars for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. 227, et seq. The TCPA prohibits, amongst other things, the use of an automated telephone dialing system or pre-recorded voice to make telephone calls to a cellular telephone without prior express consent. The Florida based telemarketing firm is alleged to have made 185 such calls to more than 142 cellular telephone numbers, many of which were listed on the National Do ...
For several years, numerous businesses and industry groups have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to provide clarity to the Commission's prior interpretations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). Currently, the FCC is facing more than twenty (20) petitions asking the Commission to provide guidance and relief on many different topics, including the definition of an "autodialer," whether a consumer can revoke "prior express consent," and whether a business can be held liable for unknowingly placing calls to a cell phone that had ...
John Chiles and Zach Miller were recently published in the American Bar Association's The Business Lawyer (Vol. 70, No. 2) with an article titled TCPA Litigation Developments: Inconsistent Federal Court Decisions Headline a Hectic Year. The article highlights important decisions issued by U.S. federal courts addressing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") during 2014. Of particular importance is the Eleventh Circuit's opinion on revocation of consent and the meaning of "called party" in Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., 746 F.3d 1242 (11th Cir. 2014). Other topics ...
Since the Constitution was ratified, 226 years ago, potential plaintiffs have been required to first establish that they have a "case or controversy" before a court can consider the merits of any legal claim. As the U.S. Supreme Court has phrased it, "the person seeking to invoke the jurisdiction of the court must establish the requisite standing to sue." Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 154 (1990). There are three components of standing:
1) the plaintiff has suffered an "injury in fact" that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or ...
In Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., No. 13-10951 (11th Cir. Mar. 28, 2014), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded a Florida district court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") claim. Specifically, Plaintiff Fredy Osorio brought suit against State Farm Bank under 47 U.S.C. § 227, which "provides a damages remedy for cellular-phone subscribers who receive autodialed phone calls without having given prior express consent to receive such calls." Id. The Eleventh ...
In Murphy v. DCI Biologicals Orlando, LLC, No. 6:12-CV-1459-ORL, 2013 WL 6865772 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 31, 2013), a class action brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), the Middle District of Florida held that the plaintiff failed to state a claim because he had admittedly provided his cell phone number to the defendants, an act constituting "express consent" to be autodialed. The plaintiff in Murphy alleged that he had provided his cell phone number to the defendants, three affiliated companies involved in the collection and distribution of blood plasma, in ...
In Hunt v. 21st Mortgage Corp., No. 2:12-CV-2697-WMA, 2013 WL 5230061 (N.D. Ala. Sept. 17, 2013), the Northern District of Alabama rendered an important decision regarding what constitutes an "automatic telephone dialing system" ("ATDS") under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") in the digital age, holding that a system constitutes an ATDS only if it has the present capacity, at the time the calls were being made, to randomly dial phone numbers. The plaintiff, who had brought claims under the TCPA, sought to compel inspection of the defendant's telephone system. The ...
The Northern District of West Virginia, applying the FCC's May 9, 2013 Declaratory Ruling in Dish Network, LLC, 28 F.C.C.Rcd. 6574, recently held that "on behalf of" liability found in §227(c) (5) of the TCPA does not require a formal agency relationship, but can instead rely on principals of apparent authority and ratification to establish vicarious liability under the TCPA. In Mey v. Monitronics Int'l., ---F.Supp.2d---, 2013 WL 4105430 (N.D.W.Va. 2013), the plaintiff sued three defendants for violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's prohibition against calls to ...
In Giovanniello v. ALM Media, LLC, No. 10-3854-CV, --- F.3d ---, 2013 WL 4016567 (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2013), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that (1) the federal four-year statute of limitations applies to claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 ("TCPA"); and (2) the tolling of the limitations period during the pendency of a putative class action ceases upon the initial denial of class status. In an earlier decision, the Second Circuit applied the state-law statute of limitations and affirmed the dismissal of the plaintiff's TCPA claim as ...
In Brown v. DIRECTV, LLC, No. CV 12-08382, 2013 WL 3273811 (C.D. Cal. June 26, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California held that Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") claims based on collection calls were arbitrable since they related to the customer agreement. Plaintiff Joshua Brown filed suit against DIRECTV and others alleging violations of the TCPA based on automated collection calls on his account. DIRECTV moved to compel Brown's claims to arbitration. Brown ordered DIRECTV satellite service online and was presented with "DIRECTV Terms and ...