We are pleased to present our latest edition of Telephone and Texting Compliance News, providing insights and news related to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In this month’s newsletter, we discuss the FCC’s Proposed Rulemaking involving consumer consent and a news release about the Commission’s Notice of Inquiry on the use of AI in robocalls, which indicates Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s intent to propose that calls made with AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the TCPA. We also review the Enforcement Bureau’s steps toward removing voice service provider BPO Innovate from the Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD), along with compliance deadlines for new RMD filing obligations and deadlines associated with proposed robotexting rules. Finally, we provide an overview of the Do Not Disturb Act, a newly filed bill in the US House aimed at establishing additional consumer protections against robocalls.

This month’s Litigation Update covers several decisions that are helpful for defendants facing class actions brought under the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA). In Derriman v. Mizen & Main LLC, the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that the plaintiff’s online consent to an arbitration agreement nullified his FTSA class action. In Holton v. eXp Realty, LLC, the same court remanded a case involving text messages in light of amendments to the FTSA. Additionally, a case in Miami-Dade County, Soto Leigue v. Everglades College Inc., yielded two positive orders for defendants facing similar cases. After rebuffing the plaintiff’s motion for class certification, the court denied statutory damages — due to the lack of actual damages and on a per-violation basis. We also review the Supreme Court’s denial of a petition for writ of certiorari that sought to revisit what qualifies as an automatic telephone dialing system under the TCPA.