Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339 (May 16, 2016) In a 6-2 decision authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the United States Supreme Court spoke on the issue of standing when statutory violations are alleged, and its opinion could have profound effects on TCPA litigation. Holding that Article III standing requires a concrete injury even in the context of a statutory violation, the Court sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, stating that because the "Ninth Circuit failed to fully appreciate the distinction between concreteness and particularization, its ...
Gannon v. Network Telephone Services, Inc., No. 13-56813 (9th Cir. Jan. 12, 2016) In a 3 paragraph unpublished opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the trial court's denial of plaintiff's motion to certify a class of individuals who allegedly received "unauthorized" text messages stating:
The central issue in the case is whether the text messages were unauthorized. But, the proposed class includes at least the following groups: (a) those, like Gannon, who claim to have called an NTS phone line by mistake and may have discontinued the call before hearing ...
Harrington v. Regions Bank, No. 2:15-cv-522-Ftm-29MRM (M.D. Fla. Jan. 29, 2016) Before the Court was Defendant's Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay Proceedings. Plaintiffs opposed the Motion, contending that their TCPA claims were not subject to arbitration provisions found in various loan documents executed in connection with the subject debt and other account relationships with Defendant. It was undisputed, however, that the arbitration provisions contained a delegation clause vesting determinations of arbitrability with the arbitrator, not the court. Granting the ...
Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857, 2016 WL 228345 (U.S. Jan. 20, 2016) In a much anticipated decision, a majority of the United States Supreme Court held that unaccepted offers of full judgment and settlement do not moot claims. By way of background, Plaintiff filed a TCPA class action. Defendant made an a settlement offer and offer of judgment for the amount of relief the named plaintiff could obtain, then moved to dismiss the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction when Plaintiff rejected the offers. The Majority (Justices Ginsberg, Kennedy, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan)
Thirty-eight members of the Senate and House of Representatives wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, asking the FCC to limit application of Section 301, to "accomplish several important consumer protection objectives:"
- Issue an immediate pronouncement stating that no calls can be made pursuant to Section 301, until the FCC finalizes regulations required by the provision
- Create Regulations governing calls made pursuant to Section 301 that:
Limit permissible calls to those collecting defaulted debt
Limit calls to reassigned numbers
Limit the number ...
On November 4, 2015, after President Obama signed the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 into law, Senator Ed Markey introduced legislation to repeal Section 301 of the agreement that exempted from the TCPA's requirement of prior express consent calls made relating to debt owed to, or backed by the federal government.
Roberts v. Paypal, Inc., No. 13-16304 (9th Cir. Oct. 20, 2015) Pending before the Court was the trial court's Order granting summary judgment in Defendant's favor concluding that Plaintiff provided "prior express consent" to receive text messages from Defendant by knowingly providing his phone number. The Court of Appeals rejected Plaintiff's argument that his consent was limited, stating "[u]nder the FCC's interpretation, Roberts expressly consented to text messages from PayPal when he provided PayPal his cell phone number. Even if Roberts believed that PayPal would only ...