Carefully Examine Those TCPA Complaints!

Last month, in Woodard v. Health Insurance Alliance ("HIA"), a judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois issued a useful decision for defendants, dismissing Plaintiff's Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") complaint for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff sued HIA for allegedly calling her twice without consent. In her TCPA complaint, Plaintiff alleged that these telemarketing calls violated both the TCPA and the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act ("FTSA"). The TCPA is a federal statute that restricts certain types of telemarketing communications. The FTSA, colloquially known as a "Mini-TCPA," is Florida's own set of telemarketing laws designed to regulate the delivery of intrastate telemarketing communications. Every day, numerous complaints under the TCPA and/or its state analogs are filed across the country. The Woodard decision is notable because it highlights the importance of scrutinizing the facts as plead in a TCPA