On September 8, 2015, Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (“PRA”) filed its own petition for review of the FCC’s July 10, 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. PRA states that it participated in the underlying proceedings by submitting comments to ACA International’s Petition for Rulemaking. Id. at 3. PRA contends that while the purpose of the underlying proceedings was to provide clarity to previous interpretations of various TPCA provisions, the Order disregards the TCPA’s language and intent while unlawfully holding callers to unreasonable standards. Id. Specifically, PRA challenges the Order’s: (1) assertion that “equipment can be an ATDS even if it has none of the statutorily required features,” (2) provision allowing a called party to revoke consent at any time through any reasonable means while callers are prohibited from establishing methods for revocation, and (3) provision imposing strict liability for calls made to reassigned numbers after the first call regardless of whether the caller is aware that the number has been reassigned. Id. As relief, PRA asks the DC Circuit to vacate or reverse the unlawful parts of the Order and remand those parts to the FCC for further action consistent with the court’s findings. Id. at 4.
The deadline for submitting petitions for review has passed, and PRA’s petition has been added to the consolidated appeal pending before the DC Circuit. As it stands now, the consolidated appeal consists of petitioners ACA International, PACE, SiriusXM, Chamber of Commerce, salesforce.com inc. and ExactTarget, Inc., Consumer Bankers Association, Vibes Media, LLC, Rite Aid Hdqtrs. Corp., and Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. The consolidated appeal also consists of intervenors MRS BPO, LLC, Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC, Diversified Consultants, Inc., Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, Council of Americans Survey Research Organizations and Marketing Research Association.
