Mike Daly Shares Outlook on Upcoming TCPA Supreme Court Case

In the article “Lawyers Hope SCOTUS Provides Long-Awaited TCPA Clarity,” Communications Daily turned to litigation partner Mike Daly for his insight on the Supreme Court’s recent decision to hear Facebook v. Duguid, which is expected to provide long-desired clarity on the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

According to the publication, the court will focus on one central question: "Whether the definition of ATDS in the TCPA encompasses any device that can 'store' and 'automatically dial' telephone numbers, even if the device does not 'us[e] a random or sequential number generator.'" The 7th and 11th Circuits said a platform must generate phone numbers to be considered an ATDS, and the 2nd and 9th Circuits said a platform could be an ATDS as long as it merely stores phone numbers to be called later.

The dispute over the ATDS definition is an incredible driver of litigation "and easily abused," said Daly. The Supreme Court could remove uncertainty, he said. Daly hopes the court rules "as it's written in the statue," that unless the equipment produces random or sequential numbers, it's not an autodialer.

Conventional wisdom says the FCC will not rule on the matter now that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, Daly added.