Charter Defends First Amendment Argument in TCPA Complaint

Multiple district courts have found that a section of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act contains a content-based speech restriction, so plaintiffs suing Charter -- as well as the DOJ as intervenor -- are wrong in trying to trying to justify those restrictions, the MVPD said in a docket 17-1361 reply (in Pacer) posted Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The company said previous unsuccessful First Amendment challenges to TCPA didn't address content-based preferences Charter is challenging and aren't relevant. Charter also rejected Justice claims the company lacks standing to challenge the section of TCPA in question. Charter argued TCPA creates a content-based distinction between exempt calls for collection of private, government-guaranteed debts or government-owed debts like student loans and all other private calls, such as the telemarketing call to named plaintiff Steve Gallion. The department and counsel for Gallion didn't comment Tuesday.