BROKERAGE PRACTICES 

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Robocalls Were Not Exempt Under TCPA Rules 

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Chinitz v. NRT West, Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27134 (N.D. Cal., February 20, 2019) (2019) 

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United State District Court for the Northern District of California 

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Facts: Chinitz listed his home for sale online. After the listing expired, he began receiving calls from a real estate brokerage. The calls stared with a recorded message, before a live caller joined the call. Chinitz alleges that this activity violated the Tele- phone Consumer Protect Act which prohibits solicitation calls to a residential telephone line "using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message." The broker argued that the recording did not contain any "advertisement" for any property, goods or services that would constitute "telemarketing" under the TCPA regulations.

 

Issue: Were the robocalls exempt from the TCPA? 

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Held: No. The regulations apply to any prerecorded message that "includes or introduces" an advertisement or telemarketing. Because the prerecorded messages always preceded the live follow-up call to Chiitz, they "introduced" the telemarketing calls to pitch the broker's services, and thus are prohibited by the TCPA.