Consumer Groups Want Rehearing of 11th Circuit TCPA Decision
The National Consumers League and four small business owners asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to intervene to seek rehearing of a January decision rejecting part of the FCC’s 2023 robocall and robotext order. Judges agreed then with petitioner Insurance Marketing Coalition that the commission exceeded its authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in issuing its one-to-one consent rule (see 2501240068). The court acted just before the rule was slated to take effect.
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Consumer advocates said Thursday that the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr is unlikely to seek rehearing. “The FCC spent years developing this rule, and the feedback it received from consumers, business owners and even the telecom industry was unequivocal: Do something about telemarketing robocalls," said Leah Nicholls, director of Public Justice's Access to Justice project, who is representing the league. If the current administration “won't stand up for consumers, including defending its own well-designed and wildly popular regulations, we will.”
“If permitted to go into effect, the FCC’s One-to-One Rule will substantially reduce the unwanted telemarketing robocalls that bombard individuals and small businesses,” said the group's pleading with the 11th Circuit. “It will mean that [there will be] consumer consent to receive prerecorded calls with a clear understanding of which entities may call. And, critically, it will also prohibit the consumer’s consent from being sold to other callers.” The “bright line standard” that the FCC established would also “enable telecommunications providers to prevent telemarketers from flooding the system with calls.”
Said Margot Saunders, a senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center: “It is well recognized that by cutting the onslaught of telemarketing calls (more than 1.4 billion every month), telephone service providers will be better able to identify and block the dangerous scam calls plaguing consumers.”