New FCC Order Spurs Legal Challenges

The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA) swiftly-filed a petition for review of the FCC's July 10, 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order (FCC 15-72) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The petition challenges the FCC's treatment of automatic dialing systems, predictive dialers and its definition of prior express consent. Similar petitions were also filed by Sirius XM Radio and the Professional Association for Customer Engagement (PACE), which filed in the D.C. Circuit and Seventh Circuit, respectively. These entities are frustrated with longstanding ambiguity that has rendered TCPA compliance challenging and nerve-wracking. Lacking clear guidance, companies either risk large-scale class action liability, or must steer so far clear of potential wrongdoing that otherwise efficient practices are made onerous and expensive. Apart from these impracticalities, the ACA argues that the FCC has and continues to exceed its Congressionally-delegated