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ARTICLE · 06 APRIL 2021

Supreme Court Holds TCPA Requires Random Or Sequential Number Generation

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On April 1st, the Supreme Court held 9-0, in Facebook v. Duguid, that equipment must be capable of random or sequential number generation in order to qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing...

United StatesConsumer Protection
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On April 1st, the Supreme Court held 9-0, in Facebook v. Duguid, that equipment must be capable of random or sequential number generation in order to qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing system" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), among other things, restricts certain communications made with an "automatic telephone dialing system" (ATDS). The TCPA defines an ATDS as equipment that can both "store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator," and dial those numbers. The interpretive question before the Court was whether the phrase "using a random or sequential number generator" modifies both "store" and "produce," or just "produce." This question makes enormous practical difference — the use of random or sequential number generators is not common, while a wide range of equipment stores lists of numbers to be called. The courts of appeals were divided on

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