SCOTUS Will Review Definition of ATDS for Facebook v. Duguid

In a call that will have profound significance for TCPA litigation, the Supreme Courtroom introduced yesterday that it had granted the petition for writ of certiorari within the case Fb v. Duguid, the place the Courtroom will evaluate the query of what constitutes an autodialer beneath the TCPA. The Justices will search to offer readability on the definition of an autodialer and clear up the present Circuit break up that has considerably impacted the TCPA panorama throughout the nation.

After the DC Circuit’s Opinion in ACA Worldwide overturning the definition of an “computerized phone dialing system” and ordering the FCC to provide you with a brand new definition, the federal courts have been fighting this challenge, resulting in contradictory ends in completely different jurisdictions.

The Third, Seventh and Eleventh circuits have adopted a slim interpretation of the time period ATDS, masking solely gadgets that make calls or ship textual content messages to randomly or sequentially generated cellphone numbers. Whereas the Second and Ninth Circuits have interpreted the time period broadly, together with not solely gadgets that randomly or sequentially generate numbers, but in addition these with the capability to retailer and mechanically dial numbers.

Within the petition for writ of certiorari initially filed by Fb on October 2019, the corporate challenged the Ninth Circuit’s broad interpretation of the time period ATDS, alleging that such interpretation rewrote the categorical textual content of the TCPA and will cowl any trendy smartphone.

Contemplating the differing interpretations, skilled plaintiffs have centered on bringing TCPA lawsuits in favorable jurisdictions, the place gear would extra probably be deemed an autodialer. The Supreme Courtroom will now evaluate the contradicting interpretations and decide what the time period ATDS truly means beneath the TCPA. A choice from the Courtroom isn’t anticipated till subsequent summer time.