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TCPA Legal Filings Continue To Rise

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

TCPA Legal Filings Continue To Rise

In an encouraging trend for Americans, legal filings under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) continue to rise in number.  August 2012 saw an increase in TCPA filings of fifty-four percent over 2011; many of these suits were class-action.  More good news for consumer rights:  the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission are increasing their enforcement of TCPA regulations.Enacted in 1991, the TCPA was created to protect consumers from aggressive telemarketers and junk faxes; more recently, the legislation has come  to address spam email and text messages–but courts haven’t always agreed on how the TCPA applies to emerging technologies.  Calls made by  automatic telephone dialing systems to cell phones (without the receiving party’s express consent) were deemed illegal, except in cases of emergency.  Recently, several class-action suits have brought “robocalls,” as automatic telephone dialing system calls are commonly known, and the companies behind them to account.  Last year, a Jiffy Lube franchise settled a TCPA class-action suit for $47 million—the franchise had launched a massive spam text marketing campaign, and many of the recipients were forced to pay for the spam.Another TCPA class-action lawsuit from 2012, Ellison v. Steve Madden Ltd, was settled for $10 million; Steve Madden spam texted 200,000 people.  Meilleur v. AT&T Inc. saw a $4 million settlement, after At&T’s robocalled 15,000 people with an automatic telephone dialing system.   And fax machines are still being used by unscrupulous companies to advertise; Addison Automatics, Inc. v. Precision Electronics Glass saw a settlement of $16 million against Precision Electronics.  Fast Sign Co. v. American Home Services, Inc., another junk fax lawsuit, ended with a jury verdict of $459 million against the defendant, based on 306,000 unsolicited faxes sent out.The FCC and the FTC have both stepped up their enforcement of the TCPA; the FCC’s amended regulations to the act began in January 2013, and more will follow in October.  As of January 14, the FCC requires that artificial or prerecorded voice telemarketing or advertising calls have opt-out mechanisms; starting October 16, prior written consent to receive ATDS, artificial or prerecorded voice telemarketing or advertising calls to cell  phones and landlines will be required.  And, at a conference on robocalls in October 2012, the FCC and FTC announced a $50,000 reward for the winner of a competition to develop a technology that blocks Robocalls on both cellular and landline phones.The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations, the use of automated telephone equipment, and unsolicited advertisements.  Specifically, the TCPA limits the use of automatic dialing systems, prerecorded voice messages, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes.  So, what should you do when you get a robocall or an unsolicited text message?  Hang up the phone.  Do not press 1 or any other numbers to get off the list.  Then, contact Mike Agruss Law, for a free consultation.  The Federal Trade Commission has stopped billions, yes billions, of robocalls in the last two years.  Mike Agruss Law, will do the same for you.  We will aggressively enforce the law to stop robocalls and unsolicited text message.  Not only will we stop the calls and text messages, but you may be entitled to money damages, too.  Damages in TCPA cases range from $500.00 – $1,500.00 per call or text.

Submitted Comments

James Preston
6 years ago
I'm not sure what the debt even is and only leave 2 second message (really 2 seconds) I asked repeatedly to leave full message and pertinent information.

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