Even if discovery shows that a third party agent acting on the defendant’s behalf made the calls in question, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act would still provide for liability. The Supreme Court of the United States recently clarified that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act does provide for vicarious liability. See Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S.Ct. 663, 673 (2016) (the Federal Communication Commission “has ruled that, under federal common-law principles of agency, there is vicarious liability for TCPA violations . . . and we have no cause to question it”). Other courts agree that “the TCPA can impose liability directly or vicariously upon any person or entity on whose behalf a third party places a call in violation of § 227(b)(1)(A).” Hartley-Culp v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC, 52 F. Supp. 3d 700, 703 (M.D. Pa. 2014); see also Lofton v. Verizon Wireless (VAW) LLC, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34516 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 18, 2015) (“Under the TCPA, a defendant may be held vicariously liable for calls it does not directly initiate ‘under federal common law principles of agency.'”) (quoting In re Joint Petition filed by Dish Network, LLC, 2013 FCC LEXIS 2057 (May 9, 2013) (a seller may be liable for violations by its representatives under a broad range of agency principles, including not only formal agency, but also principles of apparent authority and ratification); Thomas v. Taco Bell Corp., 582 F.App’x 678, 679 (9th Cir. 2014) (“Vicarious liability can provide the basis for liability for a TCPA violation”).
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