Soundboard Ass'n v. Fed. Trade Comm'n

888 F.3d 1261
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedApril 27, 2018
Docket17-5093
StatusPublished
Cited by118 cases

This text of 888 F.3d 1261 (Soundboard Ass'n v. Fed. Trade Comm'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Soundboard Ass'n v. Fed. Trade Comm'n, 888 F.3d 1261 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinions

Dissenting Opinion filed by Circuit Judge Millett.

Wilkins, Circuit Judge:

This appeal arises from Appellant Soundboard Association's ("SBA's") challenge to a November 10, 2016 informal opinion letter (the "2016 Letter") issued by Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission") staff. The 2016 Letter stated it was the FTC staff's opinion that telemarketing technology used by SBA's members is subject to the FTC's regulation of so-called "robocalls," and it announced the rescission of a 2009 FTC staff letter (the "2009 Letter") that had reached the opposite conclusion.

SBA filed suit seeking to enjoin rescission of the 2009 Letter. It argued the 2016 Letter violated the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") because it was a legislative rule issued without notice and comment and because the FTC's robocall regulation unconstitutionally restricted speech on the basis of content. The FTC opposed both these arguments and also disputed that the 2016 Letter was reviewable final agency action. The District *1263Court concluded the 2016 letter qualified as reviewable final agency action, but the court granted summary judgment for the FTC on the grounds that the 2016 Letter was an interpretive rule not subject to notice and comment and that the interpretation stated in the letter survived First Amendment scrutiny.

We conclude that because the 2016 staff opinion letter does not constitute the consummation of the Commission's decisionmaking process by its own terms and under the FTC's regulations, it is not final agency action. As SBA concedes, its speech claims are pleaded as APA claims under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(B) and cannot proceed without final agency action. We therefore vacate the decision below and dismiss the case for failure to state a cause of action under the APA.

I.

A.

SBA is a trade association for companies that manufacture or use "soundboard" telemarketing technology ("soundboard"). Soundboard enables telemarketing agents to communicate with customers over the phone by playing prerecorded audio clips instead of using the agent's live voice. The agent can choose a pre-recorded clip to ask questions of or respond to a customer, while retaining the ability to break into the call and speak to the customer directly. Soundboard also enables agents to make and participate in multiple calls simultaneously. According to SBA, soundboard provides many advantages to telemarketers, including ensuring accurate communication of information and disclaimers, improving call-center performance and cost-effectiveness, and employing individuals who would otherwise have difficulty being understood over the phone due to accent or disability. J.A. 85-86.

The FTC regulates telemarketing pursuant to the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 1994, which directs the Commission to "prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive ... and other abusive telemarketing acts or practices." 15 U.S.C. § 6102(a)(1). In 1995, the Commission promulgated the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR"), which restricts telemarketing to certain times of day, creates the "do-not-call" list, and imposes other requirements to prevent fraud, abuse, and intrusions on customer privacy. 60 Fed. Reg. 43842 (Aug. 23, 1995) ; 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(ii), (c). In 2003, the Commission amended the TSR to more closely regulate "predictive dialing," which places multiple simultaneous calls for a single call-center agent and, therefore, can result in "call abandonment"-i.e., abruptly hanging up-when too many customers answer the phone. The 2003 amendment prohibited telemarketers from failing to connect a customer to an agent within two seconds of the customer's completed greeting. 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(iv). The amendment thus effectively prohibited outbound telemarketing campaigns consisting "solely of prerecorded messages"-colloquially known as robocalls-because "consumers who receive a prerecorded message would never be connected to a sales representative." 73 Fed. Reg. 51,164, 51,165 (Aug. 29, 2008).

In 2008, the Commission amended the TSR to prohibit telemarketers from "initiating any outbound telephone call that delivers a prerecorded message" without "an express agreement, in writing" from the consumer with language demonstrating the individual customer's consent to receiving such calls from that telemarketer. Id. at 51,184 ; 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(v)(A). The express-written-consent requirement does not apply to calls made on behalf of charitable organizations intended to "induce *1264a charitable contribution from a member of, or previous donor to," the organization, as long as the donor can opt out of such calls. 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(v)(B). The Commission justified this exception on the grounds that members and prior donors have consented to receiving future charitable solicitation calls and, as a result, have a reduced privacy interest vis-à-vis a charitable organization's speech interest. See 73 Fed. Reg. at 51,193 -94.

In promulgating the 2008 amendments, the Commission explained that the comments it received from customers and industry showed "the reasonable consumer would consider interactive prerecorded telemarketing messages to be coercive or abusive of such consumer's right to privacy. The mere ringing of the telephone to initiate such a call may be disruptive; the intrusion of such a call on a consumer's right to privacy may be exacerbated immeasurably when there is no human being on the other end of the line." Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
888 F.3d 1261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/soundboard-assn-v-fed-trade-commn-cadc-2018.