A District Court judge in Arizona has partially granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit in which it was accused of placing 10 calls to the plaintiff’s cell phone in an attempt to reach someone other than the plaintiff.
The Background: The plaintiff, who has owned the cell number in question for 10 years, received 10 calls in June 2022 that were intended for someone the plaintiff did not know. At least four of those calls used an artificial or prerecorded voice.
- The plaintiff filed suit, alleging the defendant willfully and knowingly violated the TCPA, and sought treble damages on the standard $500 per call award.
The Ruling: The one piece of good news for the defendant in this ruling is that Judge G. Murray Snow of the District Court for the District of Arizona, doesn’t think the defendant willfully and knowingly violated the TCPA.
- The defendant’s other argument, that it did not violate the TCPA at all, did not fare as well before Judge Snow. The defendant called the plaintiff’s cell phone using an automated telephone dialing system without the plaintiff’s prior express consent. Accepting the allegations as true at this point in the proceedings, it’s not entirely impossible that the defendant didn’t violate the TCPA, the judge ruled.
- The defendant also sought to strike the class action allegations from the complaint on the grounds that the defined class was overly broad and lacked commonality. The defendant also argued that the definition is not based on objective criteria, which is something that should be brought up at the certification stage, Judge Snow ruled.
