In re Matter of Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991; SoundBite Communications, Inc. Petition for Expedited Declaratory Ruling, CG Docket No. 02-278 (Nov. 29, 2012) Pending before the Federal Communications Commission was a Petition to determine whether sending a single text using an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS) confirming receipt of a request that no further text messages be sent violated the TCPA. The FCC concluded that a text message falls within a recipient's prior express consent to receive text messages and does not ...
Thrasher-Lyon v. CCS Commercial LLC, No. 11 C 04473, 2012 WL 5389722 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 2, 2012) Pending before the court was Defendants' Motion to Reconsider summary judgment granted in the named Plaintiff's favor, and alternative request for certification of the summary judgment decision for interlocutory appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Rejecting Defendant's Motion to Reconsider, the court did, however, certify its order for interlocutory appeal. Specifically, the court concluded that its summary judgment decision decided two controlling issues of law: (1) the ...
Ploch v. FirstSource Advantage, LLC, No. 4:12-cv-310-JAR, 2012 WL 538476 (E.D. Mo. Nov. 1, 2012) Defendant moved for summary judgment on Plaintiff's claim for violation of the TCPA, contending that Plaintiff could not adduce any evidence that it used an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS) to call Plaintiff's cell phone, and did not leave any prerecorded message on Plaintiff's cell phone. Defendant submitted a declaration from its Dialer Operations Manager stating that Defendant did not place any calls to Plaintiff's cell phone using an ATDS, and all calls were made through ...
Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 3:12-cv-02902-CLS, 2012 WL (N.D. Ala. Nov. 9, 2012) After dropping off a prescription with Defendant, Plaintiff was asked for several pieces of information, including her cell phone number. According to Defendant, the number was needed "in case there were any questions that came up." Defendant did not explicitly seek permission to send Plaintiff text messages, nonetheless, it sent an undisclosed number within hours of Plaintiff leaving her prescription with Defendant. When Plaintiff asked Defendant why she was receiving the text messages ...
Ryabyshchuck v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., No. 11-cv-1236-IEG (WVG), 2012 WL 5379143 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 30, 2012) Pending before the court were cross-motions for summary judgment on the dispositive issue of whether confirmatory text messages sent to a cell phone number voluntarily submitted via an on-line credit application violated the TCPA. Specifically, after providing his cell phone number to Defendant, Plaintiff received a text message from a third-party vendor acting on behalf of Defendant. Plaintiff replied to the text with the word “stop,” to which Defendant sent a ...
A Fast Sign Company, Inc. d/b/a Fastsigns v. American Home Services, Inc., No. S11G1708, 2012 WL 5381254 (Ga. Nov. 5, 2012) In 2002 and 2003, Defendant, a siding, window and gutter installation company, contracted with a third party to send a total of 318 unsolicited advertisements to various fax machines in the Atlanta, Georgia area. A class action complaint was filed, after which time a bench trial was held and a $459 Million verdict was entered. The Georgia Court of Appeals vacated the verdict, concluding that the trial court erroneously based liability and damages on the number of ...
Columbia Casualty Co. v. Hiar Holdings, L.L.C., No. ED 98253 (MO. App. E.D. Oct. 23, 2012) Plaintiff insurance company appealed the trial court's summary judgment order in favor of Defendants who had settled an underlying action involving the allegedly unsolicited transmission of more than 10,000 faxes in violation of the TCPA for $5 Million. Specifically at issue in the declaratory judgment action was whether Plaintiff's insurance policy provided coverage for the settlement. Reversing and rendering judgment in favor of Plaintiff, the court noted its previous opinion ...
Martin v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, et al., No. 12 C 5147, 2012 WL 5048854 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 18, 2012) Plaintiff entered into a wireless contract with Defendant, which he later canceled. Plaintiff sent Defendant a payment with the cancellation notice of the amount he owed under the contract as well as revocation of consent to call his cell phone number. Defendant sent Plaintiff a bill, which included an early termination fee, restocking fee, fees for services used and other taxes and charges. Plaintiff did not pay the fees, and Defendant assigned the debt to three ...
In re Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, No. MDL 2398 (Oct. 18, 2012 JPML) Pending before the panel were various Plaintiffs' request to centralize TCPA litigation against Defendant in the Northern District of Illinois. Defendant joined the request for centralization, but argued for transfer to the Middle District of Florida. No party opposed centralization. While noting that the cases involved relatively few parties, and actions at present, the Panel concluded that centralization will eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, including with ...
Buslepp v. Improv Miami, Inc., No. 12-601771-CIV, 2012 WL 4919809 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 16, 2012) Plaintiff filed a purported class action, contending that Defendant, which promotes and hosts events at its comedy club, sent unsolicited commercial text messages to potential customers using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) and without prior express consent in violation of the TCPA. Plaintiff moved for summary judgment on his individual claims, which Defendant opposed contending Plaintiff failed to establish the elements of a claim under the TCPA. Noting that the TCPA ...