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

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

Court denies class action status in Sherman v. Yahoo! Inc.

In a well-reasoned order, the court in Sherman v. Yahoo! Inc. has denied the plaintiff’s motion for class certification. The District Court for the Southern District of California reached several decisions in this case that could be very useful for other businesses defending themselves from similar TCPA lawsuits.   In denying class certification, the court… Continue reading Court denies class action status in Sherman v. Yahoo! Inc.

FCC finally gets around to issuing clarification on Efaxes

On September 25, 2009, Westfax, Inc. filed a petition for clarification as to whether electronic faxes are treated the same as regular faxes under the TCPA. Almost 6 years later, the FCC finally got around to responding by way of an eight page declaratory ruling. In their ruling the FCC determined that efaxes that are sent… Continue reading FCC finally gets around to issuing clarification on Efaxes

FCC cites popular ride share company for TCPA violations

In a somewhat unusual case the FCC has cited Lyft Inc. for failing to allow consumers to use Lyft’s services without opting in to receive autodialed texts and calls. While Lyft’s terms of services state that customers have the ability to unsubscribe or opt out from receiving text messages, Lyft does not actually provide any unsubscribe options… Continue reading FCC cites popular ride share company for TCPA violations

Court applies new FCC Order in TCPA case, but ignores future capacity standard

This week, in the case of Luna v. Shac, LLC et al., the District Court for the Northern District of California issued one of its first post FCC Declaratory Ruling decisions regarding the interpretation of an ATDS under the TCPA. While the court cited to the FCC’s Declaratory Ruling and Order supporting the position that… Continue reading Court applies new FCC Order in TCPA case, but ignores future capacity standard

TCPA Liability Adds up Quickly

Last week the FCC released a forfeiture order against Travel Club and several other related parties imposing a fine of $2,960,000. This fine was based on 185 unsolicited robocalls in violation of the TCPA (185 violations x $16,000 per violation). Normally, you would except to see some sort of settlement agreement where the businesses are… Continue reading TCPA Liability Adds up Quickly