Ninth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment for Defendants, Rejects Plaintiff’s Vicarious Liability Theory

The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed summary judgment for five defendants—three payday lenders and two lead-generation vendors—in a certified class action where it was undisputed that the text message at issue violated the TCPA.  See Kristensen v. Credit Payment Servs. Inc., 879 F.3d 1010 (9th Cir. 2018).  Rejecting Plaintiff’s ratification theory, the court held that the defendants were not vicariously liable for the actions of a non-party “publisher,” AC Referral—the entity that initiated the text.  The Ninth Circuit’s opinion provides useful guidance as to scope of TCPA liability for all players involved in an SMS campaign, particularly those that do not actually press “send.”

Defendants Enova International, Inc., Pioneer Financial Services, Inc., and Credit Payment Services, Inc. (“Lenders”), had entered into separate contracts with Defendant LeadPile LLC, a company that buys and sells sales leads, to conduct a marketing campaign.  To obtain its leads, LeadPile had contracted with Defendant

Article source: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ninth-circuit-affirms-summary-judgment-defendants-rejects-plaintiff-s-vicarious