The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals majority opinion, reversed the grant of summary by the District Court that a loan owner could be liable for its debt collectors' tactics that violate the TCPA, effectively closing the window on creditors using a No Vicarious Liability defense for claims arising from its debt collectors. The dissent contended that no agency existed between the loan owner and the third-party debt collectors, and held that the majority is inappropriately legislating a strict liability provision into the TCPA from the bench. Whether an agency relationship exists to establish vicarious liability remains a fact intensive inquiry. As such, extra care needs to be taken to ensure that an entity does not engage in conduct that may be construed as ratification of a wrongful conduct by a third party.
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