Supreme Court TCPA News: Government Debt Collectors Beware And Autodialers Under Review

• Published date: 24 July 2020
• Law Firm: Foley & Lardner
• Author: Mr Michael Leffel and Susan Poll Klaessy

The Supreme Court is showing interest in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which is designed to control certain unwanted calls, and which over the last decade has been a favored tool of the plaintiffs' bar to collect large class settlements, given the availability of statutory damages of $500 per call or text (which can be trebled if willful). The recent decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) overturns a carve-out to the TCPA that permitted robocalls to collect federal debt. No. 19-631, slip op. at 1 (U.S. Jul. 6, 2020). Additionally, Facebook has finally convinced the Supreme Court to consider what types of dialer equipment fall under the TCPA's purview as automatic telephone dialing equipment.

Government Debt Collector Carve-Out Overturned: Barr v. AAPC

In 2015, the Bipartisan Budget Act amended the TCPA to allow for robocalls made 'solely to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States.' 129 Stat. 588. In other words, while regular debt collectors were prohibited from making certain types of calls to collect debt, the government saw fit to create an exception for entities calling to collect debt owed to the federal government. The debt collection carveout was challenged by plaintiffs seeking to make robocalls for the purpose of political outreach. Barr, No. 19-631, slip op. at 5. The plaintiffs claimed the exception was a...