Curbs on Cellphone Calls Pay Off for Lawyers

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed in 1991 by lawmakers hoping to blunt telemarketing and end expensive, unwanted calls to cellphones. But even though those calls are cheap now and many people no longer use land lines, the law has found a lucrative new life as a tool for plaintiffs' attorneys.

Four-fifths of all federal TCPA cases filed in or transferred to federal court have occurred in the past five years, according to a search of court records. The TCPA prohibited the use of prerecorded calls to residential landlines without prior consent, later leading to the creation of the national Do Not Call Registry. It also set tougher limits for calls or messages sent to cellphones, faxes and "any service for which the called party is charged." In those cases, express consent was required even for live calls using an auto-dialer, a popular tool for debt collectors. Except in an emergency, a firm using an auto-dialer to call a cellphone without consent -- assuming it isn't an emergency -- can be on the hook for $500 to $1,500 a call.