For years now, the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has been a looming threat to U.S. businesses. Although the TCPA was initially passed “to develop the necessary ground rules for cost-effective protection of consumers from unwanted telephone solicitations,” it has turned into a boon and popular choice for the plaintiffs’ bar due to its inflated per-violation penalties. Businesses that place calls that violate the TCPA could owe the called party $500 or, in instances where the violation was willful or knowing, $1,500 per call.
And despite its enactment as an anti- “telephone solicitation” statute, it has been invoked and deemed to apply to debt collection phone calls. For debt collection calls under the statute, before a party may make such a phone call (or send a text message) to a cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or place a call to a cell phone or residential number using an artificial or prerecorded voice, the caller must have the “prior express consent” of the called party.
Please see full advisory for more information.
Please see full publication below for more information.
