The battle over the TCPA’s ATDS definition continues to rage in courthouses across the country.

The Facebook Ruling Resource page remains a critical resource for those trying to navigate these choppy waters, of course, but this is seesaw all the way.

In the most recent ruling to weigh in, a court found meager allegations of “dead air” before a call connection was likely not sufficient to state an ATDS claim.

In Forteza v. Affordable Auto Shield, 2024 WL 898905 (N.D. Tex. Feb 29, 2024) the Court was unimpressed with a plaintiff’s generic pleading in a TCPA suit.

The Court noted that although the Plaintiff sought to recover for over 20 alleged calls, only one call was pleaded with any specificity. As to the rest of the calls there were simply no facts alleged. And with several defendants locked up in the case there was no way to know who had done what.

On the ATDS component, however, the court was particularly unimpressed determining that the mere fact “dead air” was encountered was simply not sufficient to show the calls had been made using an ROSNG, as required by Facebook. 

The court also dismissed the internal DNC claim finding that a failure to plead a request to stop calls means there are no facts supporting the conclusion Defendants lacked an internal DNC list.

Good win all around.