After denying a request from the defendant to stay the proceedings in a case in which it is accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using an automated telephone dialing system to contact the plaintiff without her consent, a District Court judge in Arizona has certified a class of as many as 8,300 potential plaintiffs.
A copy of the ruling in Knapper v. Cox Communications, Inc., can be accessed by clicking here.
The named plaintiff received 11 phone calls on her cell phone from the defendant, who was trying to reach someone else who had previously provided that number to the company. The defendant was accused of violating the TCPA by contacting the plaintiff using an ATDS that included a pre-recorded message and because it could not sufficiently document how it came to be in possession of the plaintiff’s phone number.
The defendant had sought a stay in the proceedings, looking to wait until the Federal Communications Commission issues its proposed rule to clarify provisions of the TCPA, including a new definition for an ATDS. But the judge denied the request for a stay last month.
The defendant attempted to argue that its evidence of consent “obliterates” predominance and would require individual trials for each potential plaintiff. But the judge sided with the plaintiff’s expert in agreeing that a reverse number look-up would help address the consent issue.
