Well we’re a day light on the Ramble this week but it will be worth the wait–I promise.

In a special “deuces wild” episode–No. 22 after all–we bring you two guests via the FIREline– Ken Sponsler and John Taylor of Compliance Point.  These two are the knights in shining armor that aided Citi in defeating certification in the hard fought case of Tomeo v. CitiGroup, Inc., No. 13-C-4046, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166117 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 27, 2018).  

In the interview–found here— we do a deep dive into TCPA class action defense and discuss these experts’ approach and methodology to demonstrating that individualized issues lurked beneath the seemingly common veneer of class data in that case. We also debate whether class data should ever be produced pre-certification in these cases given the near certainty that individualized issues will prevent certification. You’ll learn a lot–I guarantee it.

Before we get to the interview, however, we break down the week’s big developments including:

• The bipartisan coalition of 35 state attorneys general submitted a comment to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau requesting that the FCC create a new rule that would specifically target neighborhood spoofing. The rule could help reduce the spoofed robocalls from numbers with the same area code as the consumer, or even calls from the consumer’s own number.
• The Wilfredo Gonzalez v. Ocwen Loan Servicing case resurfaced last week. Since the Court held that the 2003 and 2008 predictive dialer rulings were overturned by ACA Int’l, the Defendant went back to the well via a motion for reconsideration and asked the Court to also find that the 2003 ruling had been overturned in all respects–including the FCC’s finding in that order that the TCPA applies to debt collection calls.
• “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless System. No action is required.” Everyone’s phones went off last Wednesday when the Presidential Alert was sent but does this sort of “push notification” constitute a text? Is the government considered a person within the meaning of the TCPA? Was this used for emergency purposes? Some interesting things to consider here but not surprisingly a group had already requested a preliminary injunction to halt the test of the Presidential Alert system stating a violation of First and Fourth Amendment rights.

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Mikes Photos on Pexels.com.