2nd Circuit Sides With Time Warner Cable TCPA Appeal, Rules Against Broad ATDS Definition

Federal appellate judges overturned a ruling that Time Warner Cable violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, further undercutting broad definitions of restricted automated telephone dialing systems (ATDS). A district court ruling, which cited a now-vacated FCC decision, was based on an incorrect statutory interpretation, ruled a unanimous three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit of Court of Appeals Friday in Araceli King v. TWC, No. 15-2474. The panel noted the district court granted plaintiff King partial summary judgment on a claim that the company knowingly or willfully violated the TCPA by using an ATDS to call King's cellphone 153 times without her consent. The panel said the district court "relied primarily" on a 2015 FCC ATDS definition that was invalidated by the D.C. Circuit in ACA International (see 1803160053). The commission "broadly construed the term 'capacity' and thus extended the TCPA to reach any device that could be modified by software changes to perform the functions of an autodialer," said 2nd Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch's opinion on an appeal by TWC, part of Charter Communications. "In the wake of ACA International, which invalidated that Order and thereby removed any deference we might owe to the views the FCC expressed in it, we must decide independently whether the district court’s broad understanding of the 'capacity' a device must have in order to qualify as an ATDS under the TCPA is a supportable interpretation of the statute. We conclude that it is not." Although not bound by the D.C. Circuit interpretation, "we are persuaded by its demonstration that interpreting 'capacity' to include a device’s 'potential functionalities' after some modifications extends the statute too far," Lynch wrote, vacating and remanding the district court ruling. A King attorney didn't comment Monday.