Circuit Court Rules Against Debt Collector in TCPA Case on Reassigned Cell Number

Alan Kaplinsky

A debt collector’s autodialed calls to a reassigned cellular telephone number violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) unless the current subscriber to that number has consented to the calls, the Seventh Circuit has ruled. In its decision in Soppet v. Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, issued on May 11, 2012, the Seventh Circuit held that a prior subscriber’s consent does not serve as “the prior express consent of the called party” required by the TCPA for autodialed, non-emergency calls to cell phone numbers.

The Seventh Circuit agreed to hear the issue after the district judge certified it for interlocutory review in the plaintiffs’ class action case (which followed the judge’s certification of a class with the plaintiffs as its representatives). The Seventh Circuit’s decision is the first by a federal appellate court on the issue, with the court noting in its opinion that the absence of appellate court authority was a major factor in its decision to hear the appeal.