Michael Stortz Q&A on TCPA Guidance After DC Circuit Decision in ACA International v. FCC

Practical Law Litigation has published “Expert Q&A on TCPA Guidance After ACA International,” co-written by Akin Gump litigation partner Michael Stortz.

The Q&A discusses the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which restricts telemarketing calls using either an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or artificial/prerecorded voice messages unless the called party had previously expressly consented to being contacted. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was authorized, upon enactment of the TCPA, by Congress to implement rules and regulations to enforce it.

The authors note that, in 2015, the FCC issued an Order to clarify its interpretation of several TCPA provisions, including those covering scope of equipment within the definition of ATDS, scope of potential liability for good-faith calls to reassigned numbers, the means for revoking consent and the exemption for time-sensitive calls for health care purposes.

In its review of the Order in its decision in ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission, the D.C. Circuit vacated the FCC’s rulings regarding the types of equipment and the one-call safe harbor and affirmed the agency’s rulings on revoking prior consent and the health care-related exemption.

The Q&A goes on to cover topics such as the details provided by the D.C. Circuit in vacating the FCC’s definition of an ATDS; how telemarketers can determine whether their equipment is an ATDS; the practical effect of the D.C. Circuit’s finding that the one-call safe harbor was arbitrary and capricious; the timeline for revised guidance from the FCC in light of ACA International; and the potential impact of ACA International on the volume of TCPA cases filed in federal courts.