In the wake of Facebook, a huge number of DNC-based TCPA claims have been filed.

The argument usually goes like this: I received more than two calls on my residential phone lines from some company selling me, whatever. My number has been on the DNC list since 1908, or some such date. Pay me money.

For most courts those allegations would be just fine, but in an interesting ruling out last month a Court in Iowa said it wasn’t quite so simple.

The mere fact that a number is on the DNC is not enough to give the Plaintiff a claim. Instead the Plaintiff him or herself must have actually registered the number on the DNC:

 The plain language of Section 64.1200(c) indicates that Section 227(c)(5)’s private action exists only for a residential telephone subscriber who has registered his or her telephone number on the national do-not-call registry.

So case dismissed.

This is a remarkable ruling–nice win guys–and very clever. Definitely something I (and everyone out there) should keep in mind when defending these cases.

And, of course, if you’re a consumer who just obtained a new phone number you might want to re-register yourself on the national DNC.

Case is here: Rombough