One of the most commonly asked questions I receive is whether B2B calls made to numbers on the DNC list are legal.

It is a bit of a tricky answer. I fully explore it here.

Quickly: the DNC prevents calls to residential numbers, so the purpose of the call does not matter, only the use of the number called. And when a number is used both for business and for residential purposes it is considered a “mix use” number and counts as a residential line.

In essence, therefore, B2B calls to a cellular phone on the DNC list are simply not safe to make without EBR or permission because there’s generally no way to know if the number is a business or residential line.

Just to drive that point home, imagine a situation where a cellular phone was actually found–by a court– to be a business line and a resulting TCPA suit was dismissed as a result of calls to that exact number.

Such a number would be safe to call as a business line right?

Wrong.

Check this out.

In Shelton v. Pro Source 2025 WL 817485 (E.D. Pa March 14, 2025) the Plaintiff–the famous James Shelton–brought suit for allegedly unsolicited marketing calls to his cell phone.

Now this was the very same cell phone number that was previously found to be a business number that was not protected by the DNC rules in Shelton v. Target Advance
LLC, No. 18-2070, 2019 WL 1641353 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 16, 2019). There the judge held because Plaintiff “held his phone number out to the world as a business phone number” he lacked standing under the TCPA on that claim.

Five years later a lady named Brittney Wilson, an employee of Pro Source Lending Group LLC, called that very same cell phone number apparently in an effort to offer Mr. Shelton a business loan.

Shelton sued Brittney personally–as well as her employer–arguing that he had since STOPPED using the phone for business purposes and that it is now just his residential phone.

Brittney and co. moved to dismiss and guess what? The Court sided with Shelton and found that because he has stopped using the phone for business purposes five years ago his phone was, once again, a residential number.

The Court was also unmoved by the fact that Shelton had filed so many TCPA suits and had hired a lawyer–Andrew Perrrong–who, himself was previously a serial litigant. Indeed, the Court pointed out this “dynamic duo” had joined forces to bring this suit:

In this case, James Shelton, a prolific plaintiff, and his counsel, Andrew Roman Perrong, equally prolific as a litigator under the TCPA, have joined forces to file a class complaint against Defendants. 

But the court determined that Shelton’s volume of litigation alone did not bar him from bringing suit.

Last, the Court held that Ms. Wilson can be sued personally for the calls at issue. The Court followed the majority of cases that have found an employee, agent or officer of a company engaged in conduct that violates the TCPA can be personally liable for that conduct. The fact she made the call for her employer is irrelevant.

Because she allegedly made the calls at issue from her cell phone she can be personally liable to Plaintiff–and potentially the class.

Eesh.

Take aways:

1. B2B cold calls ae extremely dangerous; and
2. Personal lability under the TCPA lurks everywhere. This lady picked up her cell phone to make the calls at issue and was still sued personally. Don’t hang your employees out to dry! Get good counsel and protect yourself (and them).

Chat soon.