The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 11th and Sixth Circuits recently issued two rulings regarding when a consumer has given “prior express consent” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to receive text messages or...more
9/3/2015
/ Appeals ,
Cell Phones ,
FCC ,
Hobbs Act ,
Loan Modifications ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Reasonable Expectation of Privacy ,
Right to Privacy ,
Robocalling ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages ,
Unsolicited Phone Calls
A new type of Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) class action is now being filed in volume. This trend is highly likely to continue, as the cases are being filed by a consumer class action firm that has filed hundreds of...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has extended the deadline for submitting comments in response to its request for information (RFI) regarding online marketplace lending. Initially set to close on August 31, 2015, the...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently taken two significant actions addressing robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)—the imposition of a $2.96 million fine and the adoption of new...more
8/17/2015
/ Cell Phones ,
Do Not Call List ,
FCC ,
Popular ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Private Right of Action ,
Right to Privacy ,
Robocalling ,
Smartphones ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications
Phone calls made to promote a movie constituted “telemarketing” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) even though the two prerecorded messages left on the plaintiffs’ home phone line made no reference to the...more
7/30/2015
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Do Not Call List ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Robocalling ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued a request for information (RFI) regarding online marketplace lending. The RFI reflects the Treasury Department’s recognition that online marketplace lending “is a rapidly...more
As previously reported, the Federal Communications Commission recently approved a Declaratory Ruling and Order (the Order) addressing a number of petitions that requested the FCC clarify its interpretations of the Telephone...more
7/14/2015
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Collection Agencies ,
Debt Collection ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
Exemptions ,
FCC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Healthcare ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Revocation ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages
A new report issued by the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) identifies top safety and soundness risks to national banks and federal savings associations, as well as OCC supervisory priorities for the...more
The Federal Communications Commission, in a divided vote, approved an order clarifying several long-simmering Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) issues. While the order has not been officially released, the...more
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has issued a fact sheet describing his proposed declaratory rulings on various issues involving the FCC’s interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act...more
Wednesday, I had the opportunity to participate as an advisor to a small entity representative (“SER”) at the small business review panel on payday, title and installment loans. The meeting was held in the Treasury Building’s...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has ruled that a plaintiff must show that the defendant knew its conduct violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to establish a willful or knowing TCPA violation....more
The "primary user" of a cell phone line has standing to sue under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), even when another party is the actual subscriber to the service, a federal court in Florida has ruled. The case...more
In a recent announcement, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asked for public comments on a petition to relax some of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's (TCPA’s) requirements for educational organizations. If...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) applies to loan guarantors. The case will be argued in the Supreme Court’s term that begins in October 2015....more
In updated examiner guidance and examination procedures issued last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) directs its examiners to assess whether the overdraft protection and other deposit-related consumer...more
A federal district court in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit brought by several merchants challenging the constitutionality of a state law that prohibits merchants from imposing a surcharge on credit card purchases. In Rowell v....more
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it has entered into proposed settlements with two auto title lenders that were charged with deceptive advertising in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Truth in...more
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that a debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) because it failed to identify itself at the beginning of a...more
The Federal Trade Commission has adopted a final rule amending its Cooling-Off Rule to exclude from the Rule’s coverage door-to-door sales of consumer goods or services with a purchase price of $130 or more that are made at...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued an 870-page proposal for prepaid cards (including 156 pages of actual proposed rules) that mandates new disclosures, error resolution procedures, consumer liability limits...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently issued a Public Notice requesting comments on a petition by the American Bankers Association (ABA) to exempt time-sensitive informational calls to mobile devices from the...more
A California federal court recently ruled in Marks v. Crunch San Diego, LLC, that a third-party Web-based platform used by a health club to send text messages to its members was not an “automated telephone dialing system”...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently issued an order finally clarifying that opt-out notices are required in solicited facsimile advertisements. In doing so, the FCC recognized the confusion caused by its...more
Yesterday, the Second Circuit held that a plaintiff did not provide his “prior express consent” under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to automated calls to his cell phone when he gave his cell phone...more