Schneider v. Susquehanna Radio Corp.

The trial court erred in failing to consider whether the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act violates the defendant's right to freedom of speech.

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Susquehanna Radio Corporation owns and operates Atlanta radio station WNNX, popularly known as “99X.” In the spring of 1999, Ryan A. Schneider received the following prerecorded message on his home telephone answering machine from morning radio show host Jimmy Baron: Hello. Hey, you there Hello, pick up. Hey, it’s Jimmy from 99-X calling. Yeah, I just wanted to know if I could borrow your car. Oh, I also needed to tell you about the 50,000 Delta SkyMiles we’re giving away on 99-X. Every Monday through Friday at 7, 11, 1, 3 and 5 —50,000 Delta SkyMiles. It ends this week. Look, if you need more information, just call 404 287-1008 ten oh eight. So listen tomorrow morning at 7. And, get back to me about your car. Mathew Gerald Garver received a similar message on his home telephone answering machine from radio personality Leslie Fram: Hi. This is Leslie from the Morning-X on 99-X. I just wanted to make sure that you were included in Delta Destination II. Over the next 5 weeks, 99-X is giving away 7 million Delta SkyMiles. I wanted to personally give you the times to listen each weekday to win. Starting at 7 AM on the Morning-X, and then at 11, 1, 3, and 5, you could win 50,000 Delta SkyMiles. Here’s the number to call for more information: 404 266-0997. Good luck. On February 18, 2000, Garver and Schneider sued Susquehanna in the State Court of Fulton County, claiming that its delivery of the prerecorded messages to their residential telephone lines violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act1 “TCPA”, which provides that

It shall be unlawful for any person . . . to initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by rule or order by the Federal Communication Commission.2 In accordance with its Congressional mandate, the FCC implemented four exemptions to the TCPA’s ban:

Schneider v. Susquehanna Radio Corp.

The trial court erred in failing to consider whether the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act violates the defendant's right to freedom of speech.

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