The Sixth Circuit Broadly Defines ATDS, Widening The Split Among Circuits Before The Supreme Court Rules Next Year [telecom]

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by Lisa S. Yun and Shannon Petersen

On July 29, 2020, the Sixth Circuit joined the Second and the Ninth Circuits in expansively defining Automatic Telephone Dialing System ("ATDS") under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). In Allan v. Pa. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency, No. 19-2043 (6th Cir. July 29, 2020), the Sixth Circuit held that "devices that dial from a stored list of numbers"--i.e. "predictive dialers"--qualify as an ATDS under the TCPA.