The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a rule at the eleventh hour that would have drastically reduced telemarketing robocalls received by consumers and small businesses. The court granted a petition by the plaintiffs for review.
The FCC, under new leadership, also issued a last-minute order delaying implementation of the robocall rule.
The case — Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC — is about the one-to-one consent law. Telemarketers and lead generators often ask consumers for permission to be called by the term “its partners.” The consents are sold to other companies and open the flood gates to hundreds or thousands of calls. A good deal of these don’t have anything to do with the product the business or consumer initially was interested in.
The one-to-one consent rule would have required separate consent for each company that wanted to contact the consumer or business. It was issued in December 2023 and was set to go into effect on January 25.
The FCC and court decision about the robocall rule were both issued on January 24.
“After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we agree with IMC that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority under the TCPA [the Telephone Consumer Protection Act] because the 2023 Order’s new consent restrictions impermissibly conflict with the ordinary statutory meaning of ‘prior express consent,’” according to the decision.
“Accordingly, we grant IMC’s petition for review, vacate Part III.D of the 2023 Order, and remand for further proceedings.”
The 11th circuit covers parts of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
Robocalls, of course, are a major nuisance. According to YouMail reports, last year there were 52.8 billion robocalls. The firm said robocalls have hovered between about 50 billion and 55 billion calls each year over the past four years.
