In a development that’s likely of interest to legal professionals working with corporate digital communications, the recent Ninth Circuit decision in Trim v. Reward Zone USA LLC, No. 22-55517, 2023 WL 5025264 (9th Cir. Aug. 8, 2023), asserted that SMS messages without any audible component do not fall under the category of pre-recorded voice calls.
Continuing this line of legal interpretation, the District Court in Howard v. Republican Nat’l Comm., No. CV-23-00993-PHX-SPL, 2023 WL 7301861, (D. Ariz. Nov. 6, 2023) recently supported the argument that a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) text message did not constitute the use of a prerecorded voice message.
The decision holds significance as it expands on the interpretations of the scope of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the digital age. This was specifically in relation to the prohibition of ‘prerecorded voice’ messages. The Howard vs. Republican National Committee case ventured into the uncharted territory of MMS text messages that included links to audio. The court ruled that these do not fall under the ‘prerecorded voice’ category subject to TCPA wireless prohibition, conclusively, if there is a ‘conscious choice’ required to access the audible content.
This precedent might push legal departments in various corporations to reconsider the way they frame their digital communication practices, particularly when it comes to the application of the TCPA.
For more on this subject, read the full update here.