The Telephone Consumer Protection Act “protects Americans’ right to privacy,” and the district court’s Nov. 6 opinion dismissing plaintiff Jacob Howard’s complaint against the Republican National Committee (see 2311150003), “must be reversed, so that it continues” to protect that right, said Howard’s opening brief Wednesday (docket 23-3826) in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mattel adds former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Dawn Ostroff, former Spotify chief content and advertising business officer, and also Conde Nast Entertainment founder, to its board, replacing departed board members Todd Bradley and Ann Lewnes ... Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announces leaders of U.S. AI Safety Institute, to be established at the National Institute for Standards and Technology: White House National Economic Council’s Elizabeth Kelly as director and NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory Elham Tabassi as chief technology officer (see 2402070069) … America’s Public Television Stations announces election results, including newly elected board members Clarence Copeland, president-CEO, Louisiana Public Broadcasting; Diana Enzi, WyomingPBS Foundation board; and Susan Reardon, PBS SoCal board … Digital communications company IDX hires Scott Paterson, ex-Trend Networks, as chief financial officer ... Babel Street, identity intelligence and risk management platform, adds former CIA Chief Data Scientist Barbara Stevens to its board of advisers, expanding it to five members ... Slingshot Aerospace, satellite tracking and space modeling platform, hires Dun & Bradstreet’s Tim Solms, also former Microsoft, Dell and VMware, as CEO ... Cybersecurity vendor SoSafe names Andrew Rose, ex-Proofpoint, chief security officer ... Aderant, legal business management software provider, hires Lisa Erickson, ex-Veritas Technologies, as vice president-product AI and cloud transformation, newly created position.
LTD Broadband asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC’s rejection of its long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, as expected (see 2311160039). LTD challenged the FCC’s Dec. 4 order denying LTD’s application for review of the Wireline Bureau’s decision to reject the company’s application. “LTD asks that the Court hold the Order unlawful and set it aside,” said the company’s petition, which was posted by the court Wednesday. The FCC didn't immediately comment.
The FCC filed notice with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Wednesday of 10 multicircuit petitions for review challenging the commission’s Nov. 20 digital divide order and the “digital discrimination of access” definition contained in that order (see 2401310003). The petitions were filed in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th and the D.C. Circuits and were received by the FCC from the petitioners within 10 days after the order’s Jan. 22 publication in the Federal Register, said the notice. All were filed between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, said the notice. Under Panel Rule 25.3, the FCC is serving the notice on the clerks of all the circuit courts where petitions for review have been filed, plus on counsel for all parties, it said. Virtually all the petitioners are challenging the order on grounds that it gives the commission unprecedented authority to regulate the broadband internet economy.
The FCC seeks the dismissal of the petition for review of Maurine and Matthew Molak to vacate the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program (see 2312200040), according to the commission’s motion Tuesday (docket 23-60641) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The opening brief of the Insurance Marketing Coalition is due March 18 in its petition for review of the FCC’s Dec. 18 order implementing rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to target and eliminate illegal robotexts (see 2312220059), said a briefing notice Monday (docket 23-14125) at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The coalition contends the order exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority and was adopted “without observance of procedure required by law.” The coalition wants the 11th Circuit to vacate the order, which imposes several measures, including codifying that the national do not call registry’s protections apply to unlawful text messages.
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LTD Broadband asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC’s rejection of its long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support, as expected.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions. Cases marked with an * were terminated since the last update. Cases in bold are new since the last update.
Jeweler Blue Nile is “shielded” from Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability “because it has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent violations” of the statute, said its answer Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-15444) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago to George Moore’s Sept. 30 TCPA class action (see 2310310002). Moore’s cellphone number was listed on the national do not call registry for years before he began receiving Blue Nile’s text-message solicitations May 24, said his complaint. He alleges that the solicitations began after he visited a Blue Nile store and engaged with a salesperson. He denies ever giving the jeweler his consent to receive the texts. But Blue Nile asserts that “proper consent was obtained to place the alleged text messages” to Moore and his putative class members, said the jeweler’s answer. It also asserts that Blue Nile had an established business relationship with Moore and his putative class members “as that term is defined” under the TCPA, it said. Moore's conduct and that of his class members “puts them outside the zone of interest” for which the TCPA was enacted, “and they are therefore barred" from recovering any damages, it said. Blue Nile admits that Moore texted “stop” to try putting an ends to the text messages, but that doing so was “insufficient” to terminate his established business relationship Blue Nile, “given that the shared basket text messages were not sent on an automated system,” it said. Blue Nile has acted in “a good faith belief” that it is and was complying with all “applicable provisions” of the TCPA, said its answer. Blue Nile had no intention to violate any provision of the TCPA, and so it didn’t “willfully violate” the statute, it said. To the extent that Moore and any putative class members seek to hold Blue Nile liable for any violations of TCPA regulations promulgated by the FCC, Blue Nile asserts that the FCC “exceeded its authority in promulgating such regulations,” said its answer. Blue Nile further asserts that the FCC’s orders relating to the placement of calls or text messages to phone numbers listed on the DNC registry “are interpretive, rather than legislative, rules,” it said.