Second Circuit Expands Liability Under The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

On April 7, 2020, the New York-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling that will sweep a wider range of automated telephone calls and text messages under the protections of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).  Weighing in on an issue that has divided courts across the country, the Second Circuit adopted an expansive interpretation of the term "automatic telephone dialing system" (ATDS) under the TCPA.  Because callers must obtain a recipient's express consent to receive calls or texts placed using an ATDS, litigants and courts have hotly debated what dialing technology constitutes an ATDS.  Under the Second Circuit's ruling, most dialing systems that automatically call or text recipients using a stored list of numbers will now be deemed an ATDS.  Duran v. La Boom Disco, Inc., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10861, at *22 (2d Cir. Apr. 7, 2020).  In so ruling, the Second Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit and several district courts around the country