Federal Appeals Court Rules Consumers Can Sue for Automated Texts—But Only If Calls Are Random

The Seventh Circuit has concluded that consumers who receive an automated text message can sue under the federal anti-robocall law, but only if the autodialer has a random number generator. The decision in Gadelhak v. AT&T Services deepens a split among federal appeals courts over the scope of federal robocall protections. EPIC and the National Consumer Law Center filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that an autodialer need only dial numbers from a list, such as a customer contact database. EPIC and the NCLC explained that allowing telemarketers to robocall consumers from a list "would undermine the law's effectiveness by inviting easy circumvention and rendering the restriction obsolete." The EPIC routinely files amicus briefs on consumer privacy issues, including several amicus briefs on the TCPA.