The plaintiff appealed a 9th Circuit case that found text messages do not fit into the definition of an ATDS under the TCPA.
01/17/2024 12:55 P.M.
1.5 minute read
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied hearing a case that revisits the issues in Facebook v. Duguid, including what qualifies as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
In the case, Trim v. Reward Zone USA LLC (PDF), a consumer (plaintiff) alleged a telemarketer (defendant) violated Section 227(b)(1)(A) of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act because it sent her at least three text messages that used an ATDS and “prerecorded voice[s],” ACA International previously reported.
The district court held that the plaintiff failed to adequately plead the use of an ATDS and that the text messages did not use artificial or prerecorded voices, and therefore, did not violate the applicable section of the statute. The plaintiff appealed to the 9th Circuit, arguing that the district court erred in ruling that the messages did not use an artificial or prerecorded voice.
On appeal, the 9th Circuit upheld the district court’s finding that the text messages did not use prerecorded voices under the TCPA because they did not include audible components.
The plaintiff took the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it denied the petition in orders (PDF) released this week.
This case demonstrates that the interpretation of the terms “artificial or prerecorded voice” as used in Section 227(a) of the TCPA are not intended to be extended text messages. Although this case involved telemarketing, the analysis of the meaning of “artificial or prerecorded voice” is applicable to any text message, including a text that is meant to collect a debt.
Without the U.S. Supreme Court’s review, the ruling in the 9th Circuit, where there are several other cases on this topic, stands.
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