Express Consent under the TCPA… Is it Safe?

Steven R. Dunn,
Dunn Firm, PC

In the 1976 movie The Marathon Man, Sir Laurence Olivier is torturing Dustin Hoffman in the attempt to discover if it is safe for Olivier to retrieve his cache of ill-gotten diamonds. Olivier believes Hoffman knows the location of the diamonds and whether the site is being watched. So as he drills into his teeth, Olivier continually asks Hoffman, “Is it safe?” At the time, Hoffman does not know.

In context, two, recent federal district court decisions show the evolving and yet contradictory landscape of TCPA compliance on the issue of “express consent” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227.   As such, with regard to the safe harbor, “express consent,” defense, third party debt collectors are left to wonder, “is it safe?”