In a major victory for plaintiffs pursuing claims related to robocalls and texts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel has adopted an expansive view of the legal definition of an autodialer, rejecting what it called the Third Circuit’s “unreasoned assumption” that devices must be able to generate random or sequential numbers in order to qualify.

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, calls made via an “automatic telephone dialing system,” or ATDS, without the receiver’s consent can carry statutory penalties between $500 and $1,500 per violation.