The TCPA generally prohibits the transmission of an “unsolicited advertisement” to a “telephone facsimile machine.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(c). But is an “online fax service” a “telephone facsimile machine”? And can a plaintiff...more
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with the maxim, “The only constant in life is change.” Suffice it to say: automatic renewal laws (ARLs) are no exception.
As subscriptions and memberships for goods and...more
TCPA defendants often assert, in either a motion to dismiss or answer (or both), that a plaintiff gave prior express consent to receive the calls or text messages at issue. But it is the exceptional case where a defendant...more
A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana demonstrates how a defendant may successfully challenge personal jurisdiction when the facts fail to show vicarious liability through a...more
The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corporation (No. 23-1226) to address whether the Hobbs Act requires district courts to follow the FCC’s interpretation that the TCPA...more
A Texas federal court recently granted summary judgment for the defendant in a TCPA putative class action, finding that prerecorded calls to schedule a pest inspection were informational rather than telemarketing. Bradford v....more
Two recent decisions emphasize the necessity of precisely examining a plaintiff’s complaint for potential defenses while keeping each element of the TCPA in mind.
First, in Hulce v. Zipongo, Inc., No. 23-C-0159, 2024 WL...more
A federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri recently dismissed a claim alleging multiple violations of the TCPA’s do-not-call regulations upon finding that plaintiffs had failed to...more
Recently, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granted in part a motion to dismiss a TCPA claim in a putative class action. The Court found that although the plaintiff...more
Over the last few years, perhaps prompted by the proliferation of subscriptions for consumer goods and services during the pandemic, several states have passed new automatic renewal laws (ARLs) that regulate continuing or...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued two noteworthy TCPA decisions. Most recently, in Borden v. eFinancial, LLC, No. 21-35746, 2022 WL 16955661 (9th Cir. Nov. 16, 2022), the Court addressed one of the most hot-button issues in...more
Recently, on May 20, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a Report and Order (“Order”), as well as a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (all available here), with a plain objective: to “take further...more
The first half of 2022 saw significant activity affecting the state automatic renewal laws (ARLs) that regulate continuing or renewing contracts:
• Lawsuits were filed against prominent companies such as Amazon and...more
Automatically renewing contracts — which have become increasingly popular for the convenient, uninterrupted delivery of goods and services they provide — continue to be targeted by state legislatures concerned about...more
Automatically renewing contracts have become increasingly popular with both businesses and consumers due to their convenient, consistent delivery of a wide range of goods and services. But concerns about allegedly unexpected...more
In a significant decision interpreting California’s automatic renewal law, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17600 et seq. (“ARL”), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a class action complaint...more
Several state legislatures are currently considering bills that would enact or expand an automatic renewal law (ARL). ARLs regulate the form and content of automatic renewal provisions, as well as the procedures for...more
Consumers have come to expect — indeed, to welcome — automatically renewing contracts. That is true now more than ever, as the regular replenishment of certain household goods has gone from being a matter of convenience to a...more
As we have reported here and here, courts throughout the country, including most notably the Eleventh Circuit in Salcedo v. Hanna, have grappled with the question of whether a single unsolicited text message may constitute...more
On June 25, 2020, the FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling that granted a Petition that had been filed in 2018 by the P2P Alliance—a “coalition of providers and users of peer-to-peer (P2P) text messaging services.” The Petition...more
It can fairly be said that the statutory definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (“ATDS”) has generated far more questions than answers—for courts and litigants alike. This is especially true in the wake of ACA...more
In a text message case, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently granted Atlantic Coast Enterprise, LLC’s (“Ace”) motion to dismiss upon finding that the plaintiff had failed to plausibly allege...more
In many TCPA cases, the sufficiency of a plaintiff’s allegations, particularly those concerning the defendant’s alleged use of an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”), are tested at the pleadings stage through a motion...more