On May 28, the Third Circuit in Robert W. Mauthe, M.D., P.C. v. Optum Inc. et al. issued a precedential ruling that an unsolicited information request sent by fax is not a prohibited advertisement under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, even when it has a commercial purpose. In so ruling, the three-judge panel affirmed a Pennsylvania federal judge’s dismissal of a doctor’s putative class claims against a medical database company who sought to update its…

On May 16, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly of the Federal Communications Commission issued incendiary remarks aimed at mobilizing all industries impacted by the “perpetual legal limbo” that is the current state of Telephone Consumer Protection Act interpretation and litigation.  Speaking at the ACA International Conference, O’Rielly called for businesses to increase pressure on the agency to act in response to the litigation “mess” that has been caused by widespread uncertainty over how to interpret the TCPA.…

On May 13, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the FCC will host a summit on July 11 “to examine industry’s progress” toward meeting the FCC’s deadline to implement “more reliable caller ID information to combat malicious spoofed robocalls.”  The summit is part of the SHAKEN/STIR initiative which is an “industry-led” program through which the FCC has urged phone companies to adopt matching standards for how calls are signed as legitimate and how…

Earlier this week, the Fourth Circuit struck down a provision of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) that exempted government-backed debts from the statute’s prohibition on automated calls to cellular telephones. According to the Court in American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., et al v. FCC, the debt-collection exemption does not pass strict scrutiny and, therefore, contravenes the Free Speech Clause of the United States Constitution. The Court, however, did not go so far as…

The United States Supreme Court ruled yesterday that arbitration agreements must explicitly authorize class arbitration in order for the process to be invoked by one of the parties. The decision overturns a Ninth Circuit ruling that permitted an employee’s arbitration to move forward on a class basis. Background In Varela v. Lamps Plus, Inc., Frank Varela, a Lamps Plus employee, filed a putative class action in the Central District of California alleging that Lamps Plus allowed…

On April 5, the Minnesota Department of Commerce issued guidance to the motor vehicle sales finance industry intended to clarify the types of entities that meet the definition of “sales finance company” under Minnesota law. The guidance solidified the Commerce Department’s stance that companies that purchase motor vehicle retail installment contracts must obtain a motor vehicle sales finance company license from the state.  Minnesota Statutes § 53C.01, subdivision 12, defines a “sales finance company” as:  [A]…