Multiple Groups Hop on the Bandwagon, Filing Suit In Multiple Courts For TCPA Ruling

On July 14, 2015 the Professional Association for Customer Engagement, Inc. (PACE) filed a Petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the matter of Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Declaratory Ruling and Order (Ruling).

PACE asserts that the Ruling “vastly expands the TCPA’s reach by sweeping in calls to wireless numbers made from equipment that lacks the present capacity ‘to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator,’ and ‘to dial such numbers.’”

The Petition also states that the FCC’s Ruling “improperly defines the term ‘called party’ for purposes of the TCPA’s consent provisions as the ‘current subscriber (or non-subscriber customary user of the phone)’ rather than ‘intended recipient,’ and gives callers only one call before holding them liable for calls made to numbers that, without the caller’s knowledge, had been reassigned to persons other than one from whom the caller had express consent.”

On Friday July 10 (the same day the FCC issued its Ruling) ACA International filed the first lawsuit in this matter. The ACA petition asserts that the FCC’s ruling with respect to “capacity,” “prior express consent,”  and “otherwise” was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.

Sirius XM Radio has also filed a Petition for Review in the D.C. Court of Appeals.

insideARM Perspective

We believe we will see additional filings in the coming days and weeks as the FCC’s Decalaratory Ruling purported to respond to 12 separate Petitions regarding the TCPA. Those petitioners all have standing to file actions in response to the Ruling(s). Because of the dramatic impact of the new rules on legitimate business it is also possible and likely that other parties will attempt to file Amicus briefs in these actions or future actions.