Court grants partial summary judgment in TCPA involving preview dialer

In a breath of fresh air, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida has granted the defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment in the case of Estrella v. LTD Financial Services, LP. The plaintiff in this case had alleged that the defendant used an ATDS to call the plaintiff’s cell phone, in… Continue reading Court grants partial summary judgment in TCPA involving preview dialer

Court signs preliminary approval of Western Union TCPA Class Action Settlement

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has given preliminary approval on the proposed class action settlement in the case of Douglas v. The Western Union Company. The agreed upon settlement amount in this case is $8,500,000. The proposed class consists of individuals who received unsolicited text messages to their wireless… Continue reading Court signs preliminary approval of Western Union TCPA Class Action Settlement

FTC releases their 2015 DNC Data Book

Each year the FTC releases a summary of national DNC registrations and complaints. This Data Book contains information that can be quite useful for businesses. For example, businesses can use the data on active DNC registrations per 100,000 people to determine which states have the highest percentage of people on the DNC list. This can then in… Continue reading FTC releases their 2015 DNC Data Book

TCPA Updates

On November 16, 2015 the FCC issued a limited waiver to National Grid to let them use a registered DBA when leaving prerecorded messages. This waiver gives National Grid a limited exemption from 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 (b)(1) which generally requires businesses to give the name under which they are registered to conduct business with the State… Continue reading TCPA Updates

FTC and FCC file Memorandum of Understanding

It was not that long ago that the FCC and FTC had conflicting regulations on several telemarketing related issues (such as call abandonment rules). But those days are past. In an effort to continue their collaboration on consumer protection matters, the FCC and FTC have signed a memorandum of understanding. As the memorandum states “[w]hereas the… Continue reading FTC and FCC file Memorandum of Understanding

FTC amends the Telemarketing Sales Rule

On November 18, 2015 the FTC announced changes to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”). The FTC’s changes are primarily directed towards protecting consumers from fraud, including by prohibiting telemarketers from using certain payment methods.

Avoid Having your Company Show up on the FCC’s Telemarketing and Robocall Complaint List

On October 21, 2015 the FCC announced that they would begin publishing the telemarketing and robocall complaint data that they receive on a weekly basis. The complaint data is available here.  This data will certainly be searched by professional plaintiff’s who are looking for new business targets to go after.   Business should make sure that… Continue reading Avoid Having your Company Show up on the FCC’s Telemarketing and Robocall Complaint List