WRONG PERSON: Arbitration Denied in TCPA Suit As Camping World Looks to Have Texted a Reassigned Number– But Why?

1 Comment

Another day, another difficult TCPA ruling involving an online webform submission.

This time arbitration was denied in a putative TCPA class action arising out of a webform submission on campingworld.com.

In Conrad v. Camping World Holdings, 2025 WL 66689 (N.D. Al. Jan, 9, 2025) the defendant moved to compel arbitration contending Plaintiff had signed up for a recurring text program on its website, supplied his phone number and agreed to arbitration in the process.

Just one little problem– the Plaintiff claims he did not even own the phone number at the time the form was submitted. So–in his view–it would be impossible for him to have filled out the form.

The Court agreed and determined given camping world’s lack of evidence that Conrad himself filled out the form arbitration must be denied. (This also means any consent disclosure on the website would also not apply to Plaintiff!)

Conrad once again highlights the trouble with online web submissions– you never really know who is filling out the form. But the Camping World flow apparently did not collect the name of the submitted party–just relying on a double opt in to assure TCPA compliance. That is a somewhat risky maneuver.

The real risk, however, is in reassigned numbers. The number was subscribed onto the text program in 2022 but plaintiff received the texts after he obtained the number in September, 2023. This suggests to me the number changed hands and the texts went to the wrong number.

The simply way to avoid such issues is just to use the FCC’s reassigned numbers database!

If you are sending text messages on a recurring basis to numbers you obtained more than 90 days ago you simply must be using this database to avoid inevitable TCPA risk when numbers change hands.

In the meantime, be sure to obtain a copy of the Troutman Amin, LLP 2025 TCPA Annual Review, presented by Contact Center Compliance!

THE CZAR IS BACK BABY!: Its The Second Day of Czarmas and the TCPA Annual Review (2025 Edition) is Here!!–HORRAY

Chat soon!

 

Discover more from TCPAWorld

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Categories:

Published by Eric "Czar" 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.

1 Comment

  1. If the original consumer who opted in did not request a subsequent opt-out or notify anyone he was changing numbers, the Defendant continued to text in good faith. Is the lesson here that everyday we must run our database of express consent opt-ins against the re-assigned number database? That’s an onerous demand.

    Given the fact there are no previously unassigned numbers, shouldn’t there be some burden be on the new # owner to opt-out of the previous owner’s permissive use when they receive such texts or calls? We only get one safe harbor call after all!

    TCPA is an absolutely abusive statute towards business, and no matter how diligently one tries to comply, it’s frankly an impossible task given situations like this, fat fingered numbers, and no reliable database of people/phone numbers to assure the info we receive is from the person filling out the form. We use 9 different data validation services, TrustedForm, and Jornaya, and still can’t be 100% accurate. Express Consent must be in writing. There is no alternative to a web form submission. We carry $1 million in E&O TCPA insurance at an exorbitant cost for situations like this, joined REACH, and we don’t even call or text the leads we generate. This is govt stupidity as an art form.

    Reply

Leave a Reply