Louisiana Telemarketing Ban Lifted

The state of emergency that had been declared in Louisiana last week due to Hurricane Harvey has been lifted. Telemarketing calls can now be made into the state. Click here to see the official announcement. Calls will still need to be made following state and federal telemarketing compliance laws, of course. Be sure to understand cell phone telemarketing laws, cell phone DNC laws, autodialer laws, and other telemarketing rules.

FTC Obtains Court Order Against Utah Company

A Utah-based company has been targeted by the FTC for allegedly providing businesses in Arizona with services that allowed them to sell deceptive, low-value money making opportunities to consumers. The FTC is claiming that these companies sold millions of dollars worth of these services to consumers who wanted to try out the opportunities. Read more here.

FTC Obtains Court Order Against Sellers of English Learning Products

The FTC has obtained a court order against a company whose telemarketers in Peru allegedly used deceptive and abusive tactics to sell English learning products to Spanish-speaking consumers in the United States. Under the order, ABC Hispana Inc., ISB Latino Inc., ABC Latina LLC, Gonzalo Ricardo Bazán Jiménez and Milagros Raquel Urmeneta are banned from telemarketing. Read more here. To avoid trouble like this company is facing, make sure you follow all telemarketing regulations and other aspects of telemarketing compliance.

Seventh Circuit Denies Class Certification in TCPA Case

Last week, the Northern District of Illinois refused to grant the lawsuit Christopher Legg et al. v. PTZ Insurance Agency LTD, et al. class status, as the majority of the members in the potential class action lawsuit could not show concrete injury. In the case, plaintiffs Christopher Legg and Page Lozano sued pet adoption service Pethealth and their subsidiary PTZ Insurance Agency for allegedly making marketing calls without the proper consent. The court granted the defendant's motion to refuse class status, ruling that each individual plaintiff would have to have their own trial to prove that they suffered concrete injury before they could be named in a class action. The full court opinion is available here. If you are a telemarketer, make sure you understand what prior express written consent means. Also, make sure you understand how to reduce telemarketing risk.