Glauser v. GroupMe, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14001 (N.D. Ca. Feb. 4, 2015)

Facts:

On April 18, 2011, a group creator instructed GroupMe, Inc. ("GroupMe") to add individuals to his "Poker" group with names and cell phone numbers, including Plaintiff, provided by the group creator. Plaintiff then received two text messages on or about April 23, 2011, through GroupMe's group messaging application inviting Plaintiff to join a "Poker" group ("Welcome Texts").
Plaintiff filed a putative class action in May 2011, against GroupMe alleging GroupMe violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") by sending text messages to Plaintiff using an automatic telephone dialing system without prior consent. GroupMe filed a summary judgment motion arguing that GroupMe did not use an automatic telephone dialing system, as defined by the TCPA, to send the Welcome Texts. The TCPA defines an "automatic telephone dialing system" 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." 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). The district court granted GroupMe's summary judgment motion finding that Plaintiff had failed to prove GroupMe's equipment was an "autodialer" for TCPA purposes.

  • Present Capacity

    The first issue addressed was whether an equipment's present capacity or potential capacity to function as an autodialer gives rise to liability under the TCPA. As an issue of first impression in the Ninth Circuit, the Court determined that the relevant inquiry is whether a company's equipment has the present capacity to perform autodialer functions. The Court rejected the potential capacity argument noting that such an interpretation would create broad liability as it would include many common devices, such as smartphones.

  • Predictive Dialer

    Next, the Court considered whether the TCPA's definition of "autodialer" included predictive dialers. Predictive dialers dial numbers using calling lists, rather than dialing numbers randomly or sequentially. While The TCPA narrowly defines an "autodialer" as equipment "using a random or sequential number generator," the Court ruled predictive dialers are included in the TCPA "autodialer" definition. In reaching this conclusion, the Court relied on recent FCC regulations that have expanded the definition of "autodialers" to include predictive dialers.

  • Human Intervention

    The Court's final inquiry addressed whether GroupMe's equipment had the capacity to send text messages without human intervention. The Court found that GroupMe's equipment did not have the capacity to dial numbers without human intervention because the Welcome Texts were sent to Plaintiff only after a group creator added Plaintiff to the group. Since the Welcome Texts required human intervention (i.e. the group's creator), the Court determined the messaging equipment could not be considered an autodialer.

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