Consumer Protection

On June 20, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its decision in PDR Network, LLC, et al. v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, Inc., Docket No. 17-1705. This case involves the receipt of an unsolicited fax and whether such a fax violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). The Court declined to squarely answer the question, but instead, sent it back to theCourt of Appeals for additional review.

Generally, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) anyone can sue if they receive an unsolicited ad by fax. This is exactly what happened in PDR Network. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic […]

Introduction
Receipt of unsolicited phone calls or text messages is not uncommon. These calls are often only moderately inconvenient for the recipient; however, if the unsolicited communication does not strictly follow the mandates of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), consequences for the caller can be catastrophic. The following is a brief overview of the TCPA, recent developments in the law, and best practices to protect your business and to ultimately avoid costly litigation.
TCPA Background
The TCPA was enacted in 1991, a time when residential landlines were standard and cellular telephones were an exception. Twenty-seven years […]

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s holding in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins,136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), federal courts routinely struggle to determine when a statutory violation will rise to the level of a concrete harm that will confer standing to bring suit.  For instance, the District Court for the Middle District of Florida found that a procedural violation of the FCRA—without any attendant harm—was a concrete injury enabling plaintiffs’ lawsuit to proceed.  See Hargrett v. Amazon.com DEDC LLC, 235 F. Supp. 3d 1320 (M.D. Fla. 2017) (click here for additional analysis).  On the other hand, […]

On March 31, 2018, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on cross-motions for summary judgment in the PACER class action litigation that the federal judiciary improperly spent $198 million in fees collected through the courts’ public records platform.

In National Veterans Legal Services v. United States of America, three nonprofits filed a class action in 2016 against the United States alleging that thousands of PACER users were overcharged in accessing court documents and that the class is entitled to a refund under the Little Tucker Act.  The named plaintiffs, National Veterans Legal […]