Two new FCC commissioners confirmed

On August 3, 2017, the Senate confirmed new FCC commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel (D) and Brendan Carr (R). The vote to reconfirm commissioner and chairman Ajit Pai was delayed, as the Senate will likely wait until after the August recess due to democratic opposition to his reappointment.

Court of Appeals affirms summary judgement in favor of defendant in TCPA case

In Jones v. Royal Administration Services, the court of appeals held that "Royal Administration Services, Inc., could not be held vicariously liable for telemarketing violations under the TCPA for several phone calls made by telemarketers employed by All American Auto Protection, Inc., because the telemarketers were independent contractors and therefore did not act as Royal’s agents, as defined by federal common law." Read the full opinion here.

 

Court rules that texts sent to finalize transaction do not violate TCPA

In a recent district court decision, it was ruled that a text message sent to a cell phone in order to complete a transaction was not considered telemarketing. In Wick v. Twilio Inc., Plaintiff Noah Wick alleged that he received an unsolicited text message after he tried to order a free sample of a dietary supplement on a website. He received a text stating that his order was incomplete, and he needed to follow a link to finalize and place the order. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiff had initiated the transaction and provided his phone number as part of that process. The court agreed with the defendant's argument, ruling that the text messages were not telemarketing and that the plaintiff's provision of his cell phone number constituted telemarketing consent under the TCPA. Learn more about telemarketing to cell phones.

 

Kari's Law

The U.S. Senate recently passed "Kari's Law," which would require the ability to direct dial 911 on multi-line systems that are commonly used at hotels and large offices. Learn more about Kari's Law here.