Eleventh Circuit Holds TCPA Consent To Receive Autodialed Calls Must Come From Current Cell Phone Subscriber

TCPA

On March 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), consent to receive autodialed calls on a cell phone number must be provided by the number’s current subscriber and not the intended recipient of the call. Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B., No. 13-10951, 2014 WL 1258023 (11th Cir. Mar. 28, 2014). The case arose when a credit card applicant (and eventual cardholder) provided her housemate’s cell phone number on the issuing bank’s credit card application. After the cardholder became delinquent on her credit card payments, and a collection agency hired by the bank made over 300 autodialed calls to the housemate’s cell phone, the housemate filed suit against the bank under the TCPA, arguing that he did not consent to receive autodialed calls from the bank. The Eleventh Circuit held that the cardholder had no authority to consent to the collection calls because only the subscriber—the housemate—could have given such consent, either directly or through an authorized agent. The court further held that the cardholder and the housemate, in the absence of any contractual restriction to the contrary, were free to orally revoke any consent previously given to call the number in connection with the credit card debt. Finally, the court rejected the bank’s argument that the TCPA prohibits autodialed calls only when the called party is charged for each specific call. The court reversed a district court ruling in favor of the bank and remanded for further proceedings.