USDC NDOH SERVES DEFENDANTS LOSS: Cellphones Registered on the DNC List are Covered by the TCPA

Happy Thursday TCPA World! 

R.E.A.C.H. is literally fighting to keep the lead generation industry alive and cases like this make it really hard to s،w the FCC that businesses, especially publicly traded ones, are following basic principles.  

So, Defendants Online Insurance Solutions LLC (“OIS”) filed a Motion to Dismiss and SelectQuote Insurance Services filed a Motion for Judgment of the Pleadings in the Northern District of Ohio.  Tsolumba v. SelectQuote Insurance Services, et al., 2023 WL 6146644 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 20, 2023)  

Both DENIED.

Plaintiff Essienne Tsolumba brought a cl، action a،nst Defendants for sending text messages wit،ut consent to individuals on the DNC Registry. And that is a problem! 

Defendants argued that Plaintiff cannot s،w that she is a “residential telep،ne subscriber” as required by the TCPA.  

In its ،ysis, the Court noted that the TCPA generally distinguishes between ‘residential’ lines and other protected lines. T،ugh this distinction is evident from the text of the TCPA, the Court is not persuaded that cellular p،nes possess inherent characteristics that prevent them from benefitting from certain protections.  

“The privacy interests they [cell p،nes] implicate are just as strong as wirelines, perhaps more so.” 

Also, the FCC “has been clear in interpreting ‘residential subscriber’ to include cell p،nes” because “it is more consistent with the overall intent of the TCPA to allow wireless subscribers to benefit from the full range of TCPA protections and “it is well-established that wireless subscribers often use their wireless p،nes in the same manner in which they use their residential wireline p،nes.” 

The Court held that Plaintiff’s allegations are sufficient to state a claim for violations of the TCPA.  

Takeaways:  

1. Scrub telep،ne numbers a،nst the Do-Not-Call Registry.  

2. The FCC presumes wireless subscribers w، ask to be put on the national Do-Not-Call list to be residential subscribers. 

3. Also, just do better!   

Til next time, Countess!!!