Enacted to prevent costly calls to cell phones at a time when most Americans did not own them, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. §227, prohibits the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) to call or send text messages to a called party without the “prior express written consent” of that called party. 47 U.S.C. §227 (b)(1)(iii). In its Sept. 15 written comments to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) reported a 940 percent increase in TCPA class action claims filed between 2010 and 2014. ILR also noted that 3,710 TCPA class action claims had been filed in federal court in 2015 alone.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) July 10, 2015, Omnibus Order was meant to expand safe harbor provisions and allow industry to better understand compliance obligations. Instead, since the Order was issued, there have been more questions than answers for companies using telemarketing calls. This article provides an overview of key legal issues and current trends in TCPA litigation for companies who direct their marketing efforts to cell phones using ATDS technology.
