Consumer Groups Back Appeal in 11th Circuit TCPA Case on Autodialing Details
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shouldn’t let Hilton Grand Vacations evade Telephone Consumer Protection Act restrictions through a "trivial distinction" to make millions of automated telemarketing calls, said consumer groups Thursday. Telemarketers aren’t allowed to use automated dialers…
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to call cellphones without prior express written consent, but Hilton used “human clicking agents” to try to avoid the TCPA prohibition, filed (in Pacer) the National Consumer Law Center, National Association of Consumer Advocates and Consumer Federation of America in an amicus brief supporting a consumer’s appeal of a lower court ruling in Melanie Glasser v. Hilton, No. 18-14499-J. These agents repeatedly click “a single computer button, which sends telephone numbers on an already created list to an automated dialer in another state. Each time the agent clicks, another number from the list is sent to the dialer.” The autodialer calls with no humans present and computers attempt to transfer the calls to Hilton agents to make sales pitches to consumers answering on cellphones, the groups said. The system "resulted in mass unwanted automated calls,” they wrote. Glasser said she received 13 calls. A district court sided with Hilton's summary judgment motion.