Predictive Dialers in the Courts

Originally assigned to the yellow-light category of Eric Troutman’s (TCPA attorney of Squire Patton Boggs) “handy-dandy prescient” TCPA Green Light diagram, predictive dialers may have been dealt a serious blow by the decision in Garner v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 20 C 4693, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163121 (N.D. Ill. August 30, 2021). According to the court, though predictive dialers and ATDS are technically different technologies, “the difference between a predictive dialer and an ATDS is not readily apparent to a recipient of an automated call.” Predictive dialers may now trigger TCPA regulations in a post-Facebook-ruling world.

According to Troutman, this is the first time a court has directly held that affirmative allegations of predictive dialer usage is consistent with ATDS usage. Luckily, Customer Dynamics’ product Safe Select uses neither predictive dialing nor ATDS / autodialer technology. Safe Select is specifically designed with support of legal counsel to comply with TCPA regulations in a post-Facebook world using Human Sequence Decision (HSD) technology . Safe Select’s features place it solidly in Troutman’s “Green Light” category. Safe Select is also designed to comply with the new Florida Robo Call Bill.