A national law firm is warning Florida businesses involved in telemarketing that a new state law puts additional restrictions on automated phone calls and text messages and creates new avenues for plaintiffs’ attorneys to file civil lawsuits.
Patrick Doran, counsel for Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, which has offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, said Senate Bill 1120 is a game-changer with provisions that go beyond the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The bill, which took effect July 1, passed the legislature unanimously and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis late last month.
“I fully expect plaintiffs’ attorneys in Florida are ready and poised to utilize this new law in state courts in Florida,” Doran told the Florida Record.
Patrick Doran, counsel for Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Among the provisions of the new law businesses should be concerned about are its broader definitions of terms, such as “automatic dialer,” he said. In addition, the law allows consumers to file private rights of action to recover damages of $500 per violation, along with attorney fees.
Other provisions in the law include a requirement that a business needs to get the customer’s written consent before making a sales call or text message using an automated dialer.
“It has some different definitions (than the federal act), and it’s broader,” Doran said. “So it does require any business that does business with text messaging to take a hard, long look.”
And because the law’s definition of “automatic dialer” has no case law behind it, there will inevitably be civil litigation about the broadness of the law’s provisions, he said, and businesses can be expected to make defense arguments based on their First Amendment rights.
“There will be challenges to the constitutionality of it,” Doran said, adding that he couldn’t predict how courts would rule on such arguments.
But he also acknowledged that the unanimous passage of the bill in both houses of the state legislature shows there’s a desire among consumers to have more tools to reduce the number of telemarketing calls and messages they receive.
“All Americans face an increase in robocalls,” Doran said.
Florida businesses should err on the side of caution and follow the letter of the law, according to defense law firms familiar with the new law. That means not making calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m.; not placing more than three telemarketing calls to a consumer on the same topic over a 24-hour period; and not engaging in “spoofing” to hide the identity of the caller, according to the law firms.