Fourth Circuit holds that calls to VOIP line violated the TCPA
Last year the Federal District Court in Maryland granted summary judgment to a plaintiff who had sued a debt collection company that had repeatedly called him on his VOIP phone number. The district court found that the TCPA provision that prohibits calls to “any telephone number assigned to … any service for which the called party is charged for the call” applied to the calls to the plaintiff’s VOIP line because the plaintiff was charged per call. The defendant appealed the district court’s grant of summary judgment, and argued that the TCPA should not apply.
The Fourth Circuit dispensed with oral arguments and issued a brief unpublished decision affirming the lower courts grant of summary judgment. Because the Fourth Circuits per curiam opinion was unpublished, it is not binding precedent in the Fourth Circuit. It remains to be seen how other courts will address this issue.
Scrubbing for VoIP numbers can be challenging on top of wireless scrubbing. Recent TCPA settlements are staggering including: AT&T for $45 Million and Bank of America for $32 Million.
Contact Center Compliance has successfully helped collections and contact center clients scrub over 30 billion phone numbers over the last 10 years. We continually update our compliance solutions to keep up with regulations.
Consistent with that strategy we are now offering VoIP scrubbing to stay ahead of TCPA class actions and FCC enforcement. Contact us today for a free TCPA compliance consultation. 866-362-5478