by Sieun J. Lee, David M. Poell, Paul A. Werner and Shannon S. Petersen
At the end of the Supreme Court's most recent term, the Court released its long-awaited ruling in PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, Inc., 139 S. Ct. 2051 (June 20, 2019) - a case that could have carried far-reaching ramifications for Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") litigation nationwide. The Supreme Court granted review to consider whether the Administrative Orders Review Act (also known as the Hobbs Act), 28 U.S.C. § 2342(1), requires district courts to accept the FCC's legal interpretation of the statutory term "unsolicited advertisement" under the TCPA.
A unanimous Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Fourth Circuit that district courts must defer to agency interpretation of statutes they administer, but dodged the merits by remanding the case to consider two "preliminary issues." However, concurring in the judgment only, four Justices opined that district courts are not strictly bound by the FCC's interpretations of the TCPA.