Telephone Consumer Protection Act 47 U.S.C. § 227—New Implications If You’re Getting Unsolicited Robocalls

What are Robocalls?

Robocalls are prerecorded or autodialed calls made to your landline or cell phone, usually when you have not given permission for the caller to contact you. They are often made by telemarketers, who are callers contacting you to sell a product or service, usually unsolicited. Robocalls can also come from other entities besides telemarketers, such as debt collectors.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) places limits on unsolicited prerecorded telemarketing calls to be made to your landline home telephone. It also prohibits all autodialed or prerecorded calls or text messages to your cell phone. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued rules and regulations implementing the TCPA that went into effect in 1992.

Unless you give callers written consent, the TCPA states that sales callers may not do the following:

• call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
• call you if you have chosen to opt out of calls from that specific caller or if you have added your name to the Do Not Call List (see section “What You Can Do” below)
• send unsolicited fax messages to your home or office
• refuse to provide their name, the name of the person or organization on whose behalf they are calling, and contact information for that person or organization

Signs that a Call is an Autodialed Robocall

If you receive more than four calls or voicemails a day from the same caller, that is a sign that the caller is using an autodialer. If you answer a call and hear only a recording or computerized voice, this usually means that it is a robocall. If you answer a call and no one speaks, that can also signal that it is a robocall.

What You Can Do To Stop Robocalls

Revoke Consent if Previously Given

The FCC has determined that you must give written consent for a caller to make robocalls to your cell phone. If you have given such consent in the past but have now changed your mind, you can send another letter revoking consent.

Opt out of Calls from a Specific Caller

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that callers allow you the option to opt out of receiving future automated calls. The opt-out feature should be announced during the automated menu when you answer a call and available for you to choose throughout the call.

Add Yourself to the National Do Not Call Registry

You can also add yourself to the National Do Not Call List by visiting www.donotcall.gov or by calling 888-382-1222 using the phone you wish to register. If you register online, you MUST follow the link in the confirmation email that will be sent to you in order to complete the process.

By adding yourself to this list, you prohibit telemarketers from calling you, even if they are not using autodialers or prerecorded messages. Callers should cease all calls to you within thirty-one days.

If you have added yourself to the list but continue to receive sales calls after thirty-one days have passed, you can submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Do Not Call List specifically prohibits sales calls. You may still receive other types of calls, such as from political or charitable entities. It also does not stop debt collectors from calling you to collect on a debt (see more in the next section).

Debt Collection Calls

Debt Collectors are prohibited from making robocalls to your cell phone to collect on a debt unless you have given them specific permission to do so. They can, however, make non-automated calls to you even if you have added your name to the Do Not Call List. See our debt collection page for more information on debt collection calls.

New Implications in Colorado

Hood v. American Auto Care, LLC   

• Consumer brought a putative class action against the seller of vehicle service contracts (located in Florida), alleging violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
• 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals had to determine if the United States District Court for the District of Colorado properly dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction of Plaintiff’s putative class-action claim against AAC in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
• 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals, reversed and remanded, held:
  • 1) seller’s conduct of placing a cell phone call to consumer-related to activities that seller purposefully directed at residents of Colorado, supporting the exercise of specific jurisdiction, even though consumer’s phone number had area code from another state;
  • 2) uncontroverted assertion by the consumer that seller directed telemarketing calls at Colorado was sufficient to support finding that seller purposefully directed its activities at Colorado; and
  • 3) exercise of jurisdiction comported with fair play and substantial justice.

Thus, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado does have personal jurisdiction over an out of state company making telemarketing calls directed at residents of Colorado.

This means that calls coming from outside of the state that are violating the Act, can be sued in Colorado for those violations because they were targeting consumers in Colorado. So, if you’ve opted out of the calls, or is the calling company is violating the Act, you may have a case for suing that company for violations under Telephone Consumer Protection Act 47 U.S.C. § 227,