MASSIVE WIN FOR LINCARE!: Health Care Exception Saves the Day for Lincare in Certified TCPA Class Action

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My goodness, was Lincare living dangerously.

Facing a certified TCPA class action Lincare rolled the dice and relied on not one– but two– FCC rulings that may or may not even be good law anymore in pursing summary judgment.

And it won!

At least for now.

In Morris v. Lincare,  2025 WL 2661482 (M.D. Fl. Sept. 17, 2025)– a decision that mentions neither the Hobbs Act or the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in LoperBright or McKesson– the court applied an expansive read of two FCC rulings to save Lincare’s bacon and grant it summary judgment in a certified TCPA class action.

At issue were prerecorded calls sent by Lincare in an effort to have the Plaintiff buy supplies related to a CPAP device. Back in 2015 the Plaintiff had provided her phone number when signing up for the CPAP device with a different company– AHP.

AHP eventually brought Lincare in to supply users of AHP CPAP devices, and Lincare placed calls in reliance on the consent Plaintiff had provided to AHP.

The Court found that by providing her number to AHP Plaintiff was consenting to receive calls related to her CPAP device– not just from AHP but from those calling “on its behalf,” which the court decided included Lincare.

To get there the Court applied the FCC’s ruling that calls may be made for informational purposes to a consumer that are “closely related” to the purpose for which the number was originally supplied. That ruling may or may not still be good law after McKesson— the TCPA requires “express consent” not “closely related” consent–but the Court relied upon it anyway.

But that was just step one.

Next, was the issue of the validity of the consent. Since Lincare’s messages contained a marketing component–they were sent to encourage the purchase of supplies– ordinarily express written consent would be required. Lincare didn’t have it.

But the Court held the FCC’s healthcare exemption applied to the messages since they were sent to a patient regarding a specific medial need. Again, the TCPA does not seem to contain such an exemption–then again it does not seem to require written consent to begin with– so it remains to be seen whether the healthcare exemption survives McKesson.

Regardless, by relying on the two hop application of FCC rulings the court granted summary judgment to the Lincare in a MASSIVE win for it.

Seems likely this case will end up on appeal== and if it does it may have enormous stakes for the entire TCPAWorld.

Will keep an eye on it.

And YOU should keep an eye on Troutman Amin, LLP’s rates! They will be jumping January 1, 2026. So get in now!

THE FIRST $6K AN HOUR ATTORNEY?: Troutman Amin, LLP Rates Set to Rise January 1, 2026– Get In Now!

Chat soon.

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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.

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