Pinkus v. Sirius XM Radio, Inc.

319 F. Supp. 3d 927
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 26, 2018
Docket16 C 10858
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 319 F. Supp. 3d 927 (Pinkus v. Sirius XM Radio, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pinkus v. Sirius XM Radio, Inc., 319 F. Supp. 3d 927 (illinoised 2018).

Opinion

Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge

Binyamin Pinkus alleges that Sirius XM Radio, Inc. violated the Telephone Consumer *929Protection Act ("TCPA"), 47 U.S.C. § 227, by causing over one hundred calls to be placed to his cell phone using an automated telephone dialing system ("ATDS" or "autodialer"), and also by using prerecorded voice messages on those calls. Doc. 105. Sirius brought third-party claims against several telemarketing service providers, Doc. 8, three of which remain in the case, Docs. 73, 103 (voluntarily dismissing two providers); Docs. 81-82 (reported at 255 F.Supp.3d 747 (N.D. Ill. 2017) ) (dismissing one provider for forum non conveniens ). The case was partially stayed for some time pending the D.C. Circuit's resolution of ACA International v. FCC , 885 F.3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2018), which reviewed a 2015 Federal Communication Commission ("FCC") order addressing the features that equipment must have to qualify as an ATDS under the TCPA. Doc. 73. After ACA International was issued, Pinkus was given leave to and did file an amended complaint. Docs. 104, 105. Sirius now moves under Civil Rule 12(c) for partial judgment on the pleadings, contending that Pinkus has not alleged facts sufficient to make it plausible that an ATDS was used to make the calls he received. Doc. 108. The motion is granted.

Background

As on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court on a Rule 12(c) motion assumes the truth of the operative complaint's well-pleaded factual allegations, though not its legal conclusions. See St. John v. Cach, LLC , 822 F.3d 388, 389 (7th Cir. 2016) ; Adams v. City of Indianapolis , 742 F.3d 720, 727-28 (7th Cir. 2014). The court must also consider "documents attached to the complaint, documents that are critical to the complaint and referred to in it, and information that is subject to proper judicial notice," along with additional facts set forth in Pinkus's brief opposing dismissal, so long as those additional facts "are consistent with the pleadings." Phillips v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. , 714 F.3d 1017, 1020 (7th Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also N. Ind. Gun & Outdoor Shows, Inc. v. City of S. Bend , 163 F.3d 449, 452 (7th Cir. 1998). The facts are set forth as favorably to Pinkus as those materials allow. See Pierce v. Zoetis, Inc. , 818 F.3d 274, 277 (7th Cir. 2016). In setting forth the facts at this stage, the court does not vouch for their accuracy. See Jay E. Hayden Found. v. First Neighbor Bank, N.A. , 610 F.3d 382, 384 (7th Cir. 2010).

A. Statutory and Regulatory Landscape

As relevant here, the TCPA prohibits "mak[ing] any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any [ATDS] ... to any telephone number assigned to a ... cellular telephone service ...." 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii). The TCPA defines an ATDS as "equipment which has the capacity-(A) to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and (B) to dial such numbers." Id. § 227(a)(1). The FCC has the authority to promulgate regulations implementing the TCPA. See ACA Int'l , 885 F.3d at 693. Regulations that the FCC promulgated in 1992 adopted, without elaboration, the statutory definition of ATDS. In re Rules & Regulations Implementing the Tel. Consumer Prot. Act of 1991 ("1992 Order"), 7 FCC Rcd. 8752, 8792 App'x B (1992) (amending 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 ).

New FCC regulations promulgated in 2003 interpreted the term ATDS to include a "predictive dialer," meaning "equipment that dials numbers and, when certain computer software is attached, also assists telemarketers in predicting when a sales *930agent will be available to take calls." In re Rules & Regulations Implementing the Tel. Consumer Prot. Act of 1991 ("2003 Order"), 18 FCC Rcd. 14014, 14091-93 ¶¶ 131-133 (2003). As the Commission explained, a predictive dialer consists of "hardware" that, "when paired with certain software, has the capacity to store or produce numbers and dial those numbers at random, in sequential order, or from a database of numbers." Id. at 14091 ¶ 131. Telemarketers using predictive dialing software "program the numbers to be called into the equipment, and the dialer calls them at a rate to ensure that when a consumer answers the phone, a sales person is available to take the call." Ibid.

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