CEB Prac. Guide § 2B.11: Standing

In Juarez v. Citibank, N.A., 2016 WL 4547914 (N.D. Cal. 2016), Judge Orrick confirmed (again) his opinion that the TCPA afford Article III standing to TCPA plaintiffs who received multiple telephone calls. Several courts have addressed whether a plaintiff’s allegations that she received annoying and unwanted phone calls in violation of the TCPA is sufficient to establish Article III standing… Read More

In Hewlett v. Consolidated World Travel, Inc., 2016 WL 4466536, at *3 (E.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Shubb found Article III standing for multiple texts received by a TCPA Plaintiff. In support of its argument that plaintiff here does not sufficiently state a concrete injury, defendant relies on a ruling in a similar TCPA class action in Smith v. Aitima Medical Equipment,… Read More

In Aranda v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., 2016 WL 4439935, at *6–7 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge Kennelly found post-Spokeo standing for a TCPA class representative and said that individual inquiries regarding class members' standing did not affect class certification. The Court respectfully disagrees with the reasoning of the judge in Aitima Medical Equipment. In contrast to statutes that impose obligations regarding how one… Read More

In Smith v. Aitima Medical Equipment, Inc., here,  Judge Birotte dismissed a TCPA claim based on lack of Art. III standing.  In Szumilas v. CBE Group, LLC., here, however, Judge Birotte found Art. III standing in a TCPA case.  The difference between the two outcomes seemed to be the volume of the calls.   Read More

In Lee v. Loandepot.com, LLC, 2016 WL 4382786, at *5 (D.Kan., 2016), Judge Melgren held that the Husband, as a regular user of the wife's cell phone, had standing to sue under the TCPA. Moving on to the legal issue at hand, the 2015 FCC Order defines the term “called party” as the “subscriber, i.e., the consumer assigned the telephone… Read More

In Telephone Science Corporation v. Asset Recovery Solutions, LLC, 2016 WL 4179150, at *5 (N.D.Ill., 2016), Judge St. Eve found adequate standing in a TCPA case. TSC operates a service called “Nomorobo,” designed to help consumers avoid incoming computerized telephone calls that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) refers to as “robocalls”—calls made with either an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”)… Read More

In Romero v. Department Stores National Bank, 2016 WL 4184099, at *5–6 (S.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Bencivengo distinguished the types of calls that may afford Spokeo standing in a TCPA case. The Court is therefore unpersuaded by the reasoning of the various other district court decisions since Spokeo that have found that the plaintiffs had suffered a concrete injury and therefore had standing… Read More

In Cour v. Life360, Inc., 2016 WL 4039279, at *4 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Henderson dismissed a TCPA claim arising from a group-texting app.  First, Judge Henderson found that the claim survived a Spokeo challenge. Here, however, Cour has not simply alleged a procedural violation; instead, he relies on an allegation that he was harmed because Life360 invaded his privacy. FAC ¶ 53.… Read More

In Mey v. North American Bancard, 2016 WL 3613395, at *3-4 (C.A.6 (Mich.), 2016), the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that payment of actual cash did not moot a TCPA class action under Campbell-Ewald. In an effort to tee up that question, NAB responded to Campbell-Ewald by mailing Mey's attorney a cashier's check for $4,500, apparently for three calls… Read More

In Klein v. Just Energy Group, Inc., 2016 WL 3539137, at *2 (W.D.Pa., 2016), Judge Conti granted summary judgment to an energy company who's debt collectors placed wrong-party calls to Klein over Klein's Google VoiP.    Because Klein's VoIP number had been erroneously recorded as the number for P.S., Commerce Energy, Inc. d/b/a Just Energy provided Klein's VoIP number to Collectcents… Read More

In Stoops v. Wells Fargo Bank, here, Judge Gibson held that a TCPA Plaintiff cannot set up an enterprise designed to obtain TCPA damages and still have constitutional standing to sue under the TCPA. Plaintiff’s testimony once again establishes that she has not suffered an injury-in-fact. It is well settled that a plaintiff “cannot manufacture standing by choosing to make… Read More

In Errington v. Time Warner Cable Inc., 2016 WL 2930696, at *3-4 (C.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Lew stayed a TCPA case pending the outcome of the ACA proceedings, but did not want to wait and see what the 9th Circuit did with Spokeo on remand.  Defendant placed calls to Plaintiff's number in an attempt to collect a debt that belonged to… Read More

Today the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, -- S.Ct. --, No. 13-1339, 2016 WL 2842447, at *6 (U.S. May 16, 2016).  In a victory for defendant Spokeo, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on grounds that the lower court—in finding Robins had Article III standing to sue—had erroneously focused only… Read More

In Weisberg v. Kensington Professional and Associates LLC, 2016 WL 1948785, at *3 (C.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Pregerson refused to stay a TCPA case pending the outcome of Spokeo because the Plaintiff alleged actual injury. The invasion of privacy and the allegation that the illegal calls cost Plaintiff and the class money — financial harm — are not speculative future injuries or… Read More

In McCaskill v. Navient Solutions, 2016 WL 1367228 (M.D. Fla. 2016), here, Judge Covington of the USDC for the Middle District of Florida granted partial summary judgment to a TCPA plaintiff whose cellular telephone received 727 telephone calls to her cellular telephone arising from collection on student loans taken out by her daughter.  Since the defendant bore the burden to prove, but could… Read More

In Silver v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, 2016 WL 1258629, at *2-4 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Hamilton granted summary judgment to the PHEAA in a TCPA claim on the grounds that the the amendments to the TCPA exempting them apply retroactively. Defendant argues that there is no dispute that the loans at issue in this case were federally funded student loans, and… Read More

In Mey v. Got Warranty, Inc., 2016 WL 1122092, at *3 (N.D.W.Va., 2016), Judge Bailey stayed a TCPA case pending the outcome of Spokeo. As noted by the defendants, many district courts throughout the country have granted stay pending the Supreme Court's Spokeo decision, including many cases involving the TCPA. Although there are also several district courts that have denied similar stays, an analysis… Read More

In Rodriguez v. DFS Services, LLC, 2016 WL 369052, at *2-3 (M.D.Fla., 2016), Judge Moody issued a short stay based on the SCOTUS deciding Spokeo, but said that he would not await the outcome of the TCPA proceedings in D.C. Here, the allegations of injury are likewise sparse, if present at all, even though Rodriguez's complaint does seek actual damages. Compare… Read More

In Jamison v. Esurance Services, Inc., 2016 WL 320646, at *3 (N.D.Tex., 2016), Judge Boyle denied a TCPA Defendant's motion to dismiss. The Report does not specifically list injuries that result from telephone advertising. But parallels to the facsimile advertising injuries can be inferred. For example, cellular telephone users generally incur charges or reduction in usable minutes when they receive… Read More

In Lathrop v. Uber Technologies, Inc., 2016 WL 97511, at *4-5 (N.D.Cal., 2016), Judge Tygar refused to stay the TCPA litigation pending the outcome of the ACA litigation or Spokeo. The Court finds that a stay in favor of the D.C. Circuit's decision in ACA International is not appropriate. . . Moreover, as counsel for Uber acknowledged at the hearing on this motion,… Read More