Recent agency activity — from imposing hefty fines to issuing new rules — demonstrates the FCC and FTC’s continued focus on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and underscores the...more
Once an outlier, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently joined seven of its sister Circuit Courts in holding that receipt of a single, unwanted text message constitutes the concrete injury required for standing in...more
On May 25, 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law amendments to the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, Fla. Stat. § 501.059, a state-law analog to the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)....more
On April 28, 2023, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division suffered another setback to its expanded criminal prosecution of no-poach agreements. The trial court in United States v. Patel, et al., granted a motion to...more
On Feb. 22, 2023, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country adopted a new policy that incentivizes corporate voluntary self-disclosure of misconduct. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s Sept. 15, 2022 memorandum...more
On Nov. 21, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission issued a declaratory ruling and order finding that “ringless voicemails” to wireless phones are “calls” made using an artificial or prerecorded voice. Such calls,...more
On July 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the goal of “promoting the free flow of commerce...more
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently served up a defense victory by ruling that defendants do not carry the burden of proof at class certification, even on issues where defendants would bear the burden on the...more
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division previewed on March 2, 2022, a potentially dramatic shift in its enforcement of Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits monopolization, attempted monopolization and...more
On Jan. 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases on the use of race in undergraduate admissions: one involving Harvard and the other involving the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill....more
On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at restricting the use of noncompete agreements by private employers.
The order calls on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt new rules to...more
On July 9, 2021 President Biden signed a sweeping executive order aimed at promoting competition in the United States by calling on federal agencies to promptly address what the administration views as “some of the most...more
At a press briefing on July 7, 2021, the White House announced that President Joe Biden plans to issue an executive order aimed at restricting the use of noncompete agreements by private employers....more
Two U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals recently weighed in on what it takes to establish standing to pursue a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claim. The 5th Circuit held that receipt of one unwanted text message is...more
On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act does not grant the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority “to seek, [or] a court to award, equitable monetary...more
On April 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Facebook v. Duguid, which resolved a circuit split regarding the meaning of “automatic telephone dialing system” (autodialer or ATDS) under the...more
On Dec. 8, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard long-awaited oral argument in Facebook v. Duguid on what constitutes an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)....more
Did the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants wipe out nearly five years of liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)? One district court answered yes. Does the...more
The meaning of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS or “autodialer”) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has sharply divided courts, but businesses will soon have clarity. The U.S. Supreme Court on July...more
7/13/2020
/ ATDS ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Certiorari ,
Data Storage ,
Facebook ,
Facebook Inc v Duguid ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Random or Sequential Number Generator ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
TCPA
The U.S. Supreme Court on July 6, 2020, issued its long-awaited opinion in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, which addressed whether a 2015 amendment to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)...more
7/8/2020
/ ATDS ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Barr v American Association of Political Consultants Inc ,
Cell Phones ,
Compelling Governmental Interest ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Content-Based Restrictions ,
Debt Collection ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Bans ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Government Debt-Exception ,
Robocalling ,
SCOTUS ,
Severability Doctrine ,
Strict Scrutiny Standard ,
TCPA
The global pandemic has not prevented courts from addressing a host of controversial TCPA topics, starting with the biggest controversy of all: whether the Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself is unconstitutional. The...more
The contours of price gouging enforcement continue to evolve rapidly within the rip current of the coronavirus pandemic. As we previously reported, the Department of Justice and state attorneys general have spearheaded price...more
As pandemic response task forces at the federal and state levels ramp up price gouging investigations and enforcement actions across the country, civil plaintiffs attorneys have jumped to the forefront by utilizing private...more
In response to the national coronavirus health crisis, federal and state Attorneys General have elevated the investigation and prosecution of COVID-19-related crime, including price gouging, to the forefront of their...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every facet of society in unpredictable ways, and the laws and regulations governing calls and text messages are no exception. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a...more