TCPA Tracker - July 2023

CASES OF NOTE

Ninth Circuit Holds Text Messages are Not "Prerecorded Voices" for TCPA Purposes

In a class action brought by Plaintiff Lucine Trim against Defendant Reward Zone USA, LLC, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court's dismissal of Plaintiff's cause of action that alleged a violation of the TCPA for mass marketing text messages received from Defendant premised upon the theory that such messages used a "prerecorded voice," in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). That section of the TCPA makes it unlawful, with some exceptions, to "make any call . . . using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice . . . to any telephone number assigned to a . . . cellular telephone service." The Ninth Circuit ultimately held that a text message was not a "voice," and therefore could not violate this section.