A federal appeals court gave life to a class action lawsuit against an energy supplier over unsolicited robocalls, reversing a lower court decision that upheld the right to make the calls. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision only held that a section of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was unconstitutional and that the law in the main was enforceable. The energy supplier Realgy LLC called the decision a blow to free speech. (Reuters, September 9, 2021, by Sara Merken)
“Secondly, the court found no concerns over First Amendment issues. Realgy argued that government-backed debt collectors have a fair notice defense to TCPA claims from 2015 to 2020, and to prevent private debt collectors from raising the same defense would create a content-based restriction. The Sixth Circuit quickly dismissed this argument, finding that the presence of a government defense does not create a restriction on a private party. In so doing, the court reversed the district court’s opinion and set a new standard for TCPA claims in the Sixth Circuit.” (troutmanpepper, September 10, 2021, by Virginia Bell Flynn, Chad R. Fuller and Brooke Conkle)