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Companies Seek Protections for Texts Sent During Quiet Periods

The Ecommerce Innovation Alliance and other petitioners asked the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling finding that people who provide prior express written consent to receive text messages cannot claim damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for messages received…

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outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. “The TCPA, while intended to shield consumers from unwanted calls and texts, has become a weapon for opportunistic litigators,” said a petition posted Monday in docket 02-278. A single law firm based in Florida, “through aggressive social media campaigns, actively recruits plaintiffs to file TCPA lawsuits based on a misapplication of the law,” the petition said: “They lure individuals with promises of money and false claims that all messages delivered during Quiet Hours are ‘illegal texts’ and boast about recovering ‘millions of dollars’ under the TCPA.” Among those signing on to the petition were Sand Cloud Holdings, Spyder Lifestyle Strategies and ModWash.