BIG VICTORY FOR OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT TEXTS: Congresswoman Jackie Speier Off the TCPA Hook Following Official Texts to Constituents

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You folks might recall I was just on the phone with Congress the other day because their official text messages are being blocked by the carriers.

That’s a bad look.

Perhaps worse is that some knuckleheads try to sue members of Congress for official messages from the government. That’s how out of control TCPA litigation has become folks. How absurd.

I covered the filing of the complaint against Congresswoman Speier when it was filed because I thought it was absurd then too.

In any event, the Court made mercifully short work of this filing determining that Speier cannot be sued for sending a governmental message–because of course she can’t be.

The Court also found that governmental messages are categorically exempt from the TCPA by something called sovereign immunity. That really shouldn’t be a surprise since the Supreme Court literally said that in the old Campbell Ewald case.

So this was a remarkably dumb suit to begin with. Maybe the government will seek sanctions under Rule 11. We’ll see.

The case is CLYDE CHENG, v. CONGRESSWOMAN JACKIE SPEIER,  Slip Copy2022 WL 2402651 (N.D. Cal. July 4, 2022). (Oh, and notice how the Court held it for issuance on the 4th of July–how patriotic!)

So now we all know–again–that the TCPA does not apply to official government messages. But will the carriers stop blocking their messages? (Again, hopefully all of our messages too though.)

 

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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  1. I don’t see why government officials should be exempt. Sovereign immunity? We have a Republic, not a monarchy. Although I am reminded about the madness of KIng George from the White House press briefings.

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