In a TCPA action involving allegedly unsolicited cellular telephone calls made using an automated telephone dialing system (“ATDS”), the Middle District of Florida ruled that plaintiff had merely recited the elements for a claim under the TCPA rather than allege adequate factual support, and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint without prejudice. See Hunter v. Diversified Consultants, Inc., No. 8:14-cv-2198, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165355 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 26, 2014). The complaint contained only the following factual allegations: First, that “[d]uring the past 48 months prior to the filing of this complaint, Defendant contacted Plaintiffs’ [sic] cell phone without express permission with an automated dialing system”; and second, “Defendant called Plaintiffs’ [sic] cell phone intentionally and repeatedly, without express permission and with an automated telephone dialing system…” Id. at *2.
The FCC’s Clarification of its Blast Fax Rules to “Solicited” Fax Ads under Siege
In an attempt to clear out the backlog of numerous pending petitions addressing how the FCC’s “Blast Fax” rules apply to consensual fax advertisement transmissions, the agency on October 30, 2014 issued an Order addressing the need for and form of opt-out notices required for fax ads. The FCC’s rules since 2006 have contained a requirement that opt-out information be displayed on the faxed ad and that that notification requirement applies to both solicited fax ads, which are sent with the recipients’ prior express permission or invitation, and to non-solicited fax ad transmissions. A large number of Blast Fax lawsuits have involved fax ads reportedly sent with prior express consent but that may have lacked the required FCC opt-out notification or that failed to use the exact language the FCC rule appeared to require. Many defendants in these lawsuits beat a path to the FCC seeking either relief from or clarification of opt-out requirements, claiming in some cases confusion about when opt-out notices were in fact required.
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Political Campaigns: Consider Yourself Warned
If you had not noticed, the fall election campaign season is in full swing. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau certainly has noticed, and reacted by releasing an unusual “Enforcement Advisory” this week, reminding campaigns and campaign promoters that there are TCPA limits on permissible uses of prerecorded voice message and autodialed calls in election campaigns. Restrictions on acceptable modes of communication vary depending upon whether a campaign or campaign promoter is delivering a call to a residential landline phone or a cell phone, which can be difficult to tell if a phone number has been recycled. Nevertheless, the Enforcement Advisory highlights a $2.9 million proposed fine levied against Dialing Services, LLC earlier this year for its alleged infractions of FCC requirements and warns all entities engaged in campaign calling and texting that they ignore FCC rules and restrictions at their peril of becoming subject to possible FCC enforcement scrutiny and fines. Fines for violations can go as high as $16,000 per violation, which is computed by call or text rather than by telemarketing campaign found to be impermissible by the Enforcement Bureau. While courts are the favored venue of the plaintiffs’ bar for seeking damages, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is aggressively staking out its own regulatory turf as the gubernatorial and congressional campaigns use as many tools as possible to galvanize potential voters.
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Northern District of Illinois Applies Twombly/Iqbal Pleading Standard to Affirmative Defenses in TCPA Case
In a TCPA action involving allegedly unsolicited fax advertisements, the Northern District of Illinois applied the plausibility standard articulated in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) to affirmative defenses. See Mussat v. Power Liens, LLC, No. 13-7853, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141561 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 6, 2014). We recently discussed a similar TCPA case where the court held that the plausibility standard did not apply, and in doing so sided with the majority view that the textual differences between Rule 8(a)(2) (claims) and Rules 8(b)(1)(A) (defenses) and 8(c)(1) (affirmative defenses) prevented the application of the plausibility standard to affirmative defenses. See Exclusively Cats Veterinary Hospital, P.C. v. Pharmaceutical Credit Corp., No. 13-14376, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132440 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 22, 2014). Perhaps because the defendant focused elsewhere in its briefing, the Mussat court simply cited a 25-year-old decision from the Seventh Circuit holding that courts can strike affirmative defenses that do not satisfy federal pleading standards and then recited the requirements of the Twombly/Iqbal plausibility standard. Mussat, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141561 at *2.
ZocDoc Treats Doctor With Some Rule 68 Medicine
We have discussed several TCPA mootness decisions, mainly those coming out of the federal courts in Florida. Those cases hold that plaintiffs should not file “placeholder” class certification motions solely for the purpose of thwarting an attempted Rule 68 offer of judgment “pick-off.” We now turn our attention to the Southern District of New York, which recently found a TCPA plaintiff’s claim mooted by an offer of judgment made after the plaintiff’s “placeholder” motion for class certification was filed and before that motion was ruled upon.
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New Jersey Federal Court Rejects FCC’s Dish Network Ruling in Blast Fax Case, Relies on FCC’s Letter Brief in Sarris
As we previously reported, on July 17, 2014, the FCC filed a letter brief in Palm Beach Golf Center-Boca, Inc. v. Sarris, No. 13-14013 (11th Cir.) (“Sarris”), in which it took the position that entities can be held directly liable under the TCPA whenever their products or services are advertised in an unsolicited fax—even if they did not actually send the fax, and even if they did not know the fax was going to be sent. The FCC’s letter brief stood in marked contrast to its decision last year in In re Joint Petition Filed by Dish Network, LLC, 28 F.C.C. Rcd. 6574 (2013) (“Dish Network”), where the FCC had limited direct liability to only “telemarketers” that “initiate” calls, and otherwise applied agency principles to determine whether “sellers” might be vicariously liable for calls made on their behalf. As readers may recall, the FCC’s letter brief does not articulate a policy reason why a “seller” in the voice call context should receive more protection than an entity whose goods and services are promoted through a fax advertisement. But whatever the merits of the letter brief, it has yet to be cited by the Eleventh Circuit (which has heard argument but not yet issued an opinion) or, at least for the past few months, any other court.
Somewhere Out There, a Certain Gecko Lets Out a Sigh of Relief
Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the Southern District of Florida handed GEICO a decisive victory on September 29, 2014, when she denied a renewed motion to certify a class of individuals who purportedly received robo-calls from GEICO because she found that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient proof of numerosity.
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Eighth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment, Directs Trial Court to Determine Whether Consent Was Revoked
In an unpublished, per curiam decision, the Eighth Circuit recently reversed the entry of summary judgment in favor of a defendant and directed the district court to address whether the plaintiff had revoked his consent to being called on his cell phone. Brenner v. Am. Ed. Servs., No. 14-1340, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 18416 (8th Cir. Sept. 26, 2014).
Court Holds That Twombly/Iqbal Pleading Standard Does Not Apply to Affirmative Defenses in TCPA Case
In a TCPA action concerning allegedly unsolicited fax advertisements, the Eastern District of Michigan recently rejected the argument that the plausibility standard articulated in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) applies to affirmative defenses. See Exclusively Cats Veterinary Hospital, P.C. v. Pharmaceutical Credit Corp., No. 13-14376, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132440 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 22, 2014).
Eleventh Circuit Holds That Debt Collector Had “Prior Express Consent” From Debtor Whose Wife Provided Number on Hospital Admission Form
This week the Eleventh Circuit held that a debt collector had “prior express consent” from a debtor whose wife had provided his wireless number on a hospital admission form. Mais v. Gulf Coast Collection Bureau, Inc., No. 13-14008, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 18554 (11th Cir. Sept. 29, 2014). In doing so, it reversed an outlier decision from the Southern District of Florida, adopted arguments that the FCC had made in an amicus brief late last year, and provided persuasive precedent on the “prior express consent” exception.