In a recent decision in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the court held that the defendant, who used two different phone systems – an autodialer and a separate click to call system – had not violated the TCPA by using the click to call system to call cell phone numbers, because that system did not have the capacity to dial numbers without human intervention. The court also appears to have adopted the “present capacity” standard used by a number of other courts.
This is good news for the numerous call centers that have begun using separate dialing systems in order to avoid violating the TCPA. If you are using a separate dialing system, that does not have the capacity to autodial, that system can be used to call cell phones (at least in the Northern District of Illinois) without violating the dialer provisions of the TCPA.