In Law360 Article, Akin Gump Attorneys Analyze FCC’s Reassigned Number Database Order

Law360 has published the article “Highlights From FCC’s Reassigned Number Database Order,” an analysis by Akin Gump partners Michael McTigue, Meredith Slawe and Michael Stortz of a Federal Communications Commission decision last month to approve the establishment “of a comprehensive database of mobile numbers that would allow callers to ascertain whether a number was subject to reassignment to another user before calling that number.” The order also included a safe harbor from liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) “for callers who rely on the database to determine that a number was not subject to reassignment.”

The authors begin by stating that the problem of reassigned numbers occurs when someone with a telephone number disconnects it “without notice to businesses or organizations that previously called the number with the original holder’s consent.” This could cause calls to the new number holder, they write, to be in violation of the TCPA. In fact, it has led “to an onslaught of TCPA litigation asserted by opportunistic holders of reassigned numbers and their lawyers.” With the new FCC order, callers will now be able “to verify, in a timely and inexpensive fashion, whether a given phone number had been deactivated and thus subject to reassignment.”

McTigue, Slawe and Stortz outline some of the key features of the database and note some of the operational demands on callers. They also note that the safe harbor “is limited to calls made because of the database erroneously failing to report a permanent disconnect as of the date specified in the query.”

To read the full article, please click here.