Eleventh Circuit Court Of Appeals Shreds TCPA Settlement Against GoDaddy
A recent review conducted by the 11th Circuit reversed a district court’s approval of a class-action settlement in consolidated cases brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The case, Drazen v. GoDaddy LLC, involved three consolidated cases alleging that GoDaddy violated the TCPA by placing calls and texts using an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS). The case was heavily influenced by Facebook v. Duguid. In that case, the Supreme Court narrowed the type of equipment that ultimately qualifies as an ATDS under the TCPA. By doing so, the Supreme Court stopped a deluge of litigation that plagued legitimate businesses that were simply trying to communicate with consumers.
In doing so, they sent a message to attorneys who file TCPA lawsuits against businesses. A former chairman of the FCC once said, “the TCPA has strayed far from its original purpose” and has “become the poster child for lawsuit abuse.”
In Duguid v. Facebook, the court refined what was considered to be an auto-dialer for the purposes of determining violations of the TCPA. Facebook had sent the plaintiff several unwanted text messages stemming from an account the plaintiff did not own. Duguid alleged that Facebook violated the TCPA by maintaining a database of stored phone numbers and programmed its equipment to send automated text messages. In this case, Facebook was constantly sending Duguid messages concerning login activity of an account he didn’t own but was tied to the current phone number he was using. Facebook countered by arguing that the TCPA did not apply because the technology it used to text Duguid did not use a “random or sequential number generator.” The Ninth Circuit initially agreed with Duguid, but the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the decision citing Facebook’s arguments as its primary reason. From thenceforth, all lawsuits involving the TCPA must have involved some form of phone number generation algorithm.
The plaintiffs in Drazen, noting how the decision would impact their case, raced to push their settlement through as quickly as possible. In this case, the plaintiffs succeeded in pushing the settlement through before the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Duguid. The district court approved the class action settlement and awarded the plaintiffs’ counsel $7 million in attorneys’ fees.
The victory did not, however, last. In a harshly worded decision spanning 100 pages, the 11th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision approving the class settlement. By doing so, the 11th Circuit hammered the district court and the parties for their roles in the case.
The decision heralds more obstacles for plaintiffs filing TCPA lawsuits against businesses. All of the recent TCPA decisions limit the scope of the TCPA to hold businesses accountable for mass marketing their services via the telephone.
Talk to a Columbus, OH TCPA Attorney Today
Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC represents the interests of consumers who have received unwanted phone calls in violation of the TCPA. Call our Columbus TCPA claims lawyer today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin discussing your next steps right away.
