Following on the heels of Plaintiff Joshua Thorne’s TCPA suit, the Donald J. Trump campaign was hit with a second TCPA lawsuit in as many days. See Roberts v. Donald J. Trump For President, Inc., No. 16-4676 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 26, 2016). The Roberts Complaint concerns the same message (“Reply YES to subscribe to Donald J. Trump for President. Your subscription will help Make America Great Again! Msg&data rates may apply.”) and has been assigned to the same judge (Judge John Z. Lee) as the Thorne Complaint. The Roberts Complaint, however, differs in a couple of key respects. Continue reading “Trump Campaign Faces Second, Similar Suit in Same Court”
Topic: Political Calling
Trump Campaign Sued In Federal Court in Illinois
Earlier this week, Illinois resident Joshua Thorne filed a purported class action against Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., in the Northern District of Illinois. See Thorne v. Donald J. Trump For President, Inc., No. 16-4603 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 25, 2016). The suit seeks statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and injunctive relief for alleged TCPA violations. Thorne alleges that although he never provided his phone number to the Trump campaign, he recently received a text message from 88022 (an SMS short code leased by the Trump campaign) stating “Reply YES to subscribe to Donald J. Trump for President. Your subscription will help Make America Great Again! Msg&data rates may apply.” Continue reading “Trump Campaign Sued In Federal Court in Illinois”
Tippecanoe and the TCPA, Too, Two
Following up on our March 9 reminder, and just in time for Super Tuesday II, the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau issued an Enforcement Advisory on March 14 titled, “Biennial Reminder for Political Campaigns about Robocall and Text Abuse.” The advisory (similar to past advisories) is a reminder to “political campaigns and calling services that there are clear limits on the use of autodialed calls or texts (known as ‘robocalls’) and prerecorded voice calls.” The advisory summarizes the TCPA’s regulations on (1) calls to cell phones, (2) calls to landlines, (3) identification requirements for prerecorded voice messages, and (4) “line seizure” restrictions. The advisory also includes an “At a Glance” summary of regulations as applied to Political Calls and a series of Frequently Asked Questions with contact information for the Enforcement Bureau for those who have unanswered questions or lingering concerns. Continue reading “Tippecanoe and the TCPA, Too, Two”
Tippecanoe and the TCPA Too
With election season under way, it bears repeating that candidates for office are not immune from the restrictions imposed by the TCPA. As the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau explained in an advisory that we discussed previously here, while “[p]olitical prerecorded voice messages or autodialed calls—whether live or prerecorded—to most landline telephones are not prohibited, so long as they adhere to the identification requirements” mandated for all prerecorded messages, the “broad prohibition” on calls to cell phones and other specific types of phone numbers (e.g., health care/emergency lines) “covers prerecorded voice and autodialed political calls, including those sent by nonprofit/political organizations.” Candidates (or their supporters) who are not aware of the TCPA (or confused about the difference between the restrictions on informational calls to cellular phones versus such calls to residential landlines and not aware of the difficulties in managing recycled number issues) risk finding their campaign embroiled in litigation, as evidenced by a new TCPA filing last week. Continue reading “Tippecanoe and the TCPA Too”
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.
Continue reading “Political Campaigns: Consider Yourself Warned”