Calif. 'Secret' Phone Call Recording Bill Advances
Richmond partner Alan Wingfield was quoted in a May 5 Law360 article about a California state legislative committee advancing a bill that would allow companies to start recording cell phone conversations without first obtaining their customers’ permissions. Civil liberties advocates argue this bill will lead to “secret” tapings. The article also talks about other cases where concerns over the privacy of phone calls and Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations have been litigated, such as U.S., et al. v. Dish Network LLC. In that case, an Illinois federal judge found Dish Network LLC liable for tens of millions of third-party telemarketing sales calls, which could expose the company to billions of dollars in damages. It was speculated that the ruling would cause a flood of class action cases where many will seek to hold large companies responsible for smaller entities’ alleged telemarketing violations.
“While the last year has been littered with notable TCPA decisions and record settlements, the Dish decision stands out, [as] the court took a fairly expansive view of the situations where a company is legally responsible for the conduct of its vendors,” Alan said. “As a result, the Dish decision may well set a new, even higher bar for [federal] telemarketing rule compliance obligations and risks for any company that makes outbound telemarketing calls.”