Update: On April 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Facebook v. Duguid, which resolved the circuit split regarding the meaning of “automatic telephone dialing system” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. For more details, see our alert.
Update: The Supreme Court on July 9 agreed to take up the issue of what constitutes an “automatic telephone dialing system” under the TCPA. For more details, please see our December 15 alert.
As additional appellate courts grapple with the TCPA’s definition of “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS), the split among the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals has become increasingly lopsided, with the 7th and 11th Circuits now joining the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Circuits to construe the term narrowly. The 9th Circuit stands alone in adopting a broad definition of ATDS, but was recently asked to reconsider that ruling.