Its Friday afternoon and there’s a warm weekend ahead of most of us. But real quick before you duck out TCPAWorld, remember this—think long and hard before you stipulate your dialer is an ATDS in any TCPA case. It may come back to haunt you later.

Given the mixed up dynamic of the TCPA’s ATDS definition there seems to be limited incentive to enter into such a stipulation at all, but sometimes the unique dynamics of a case require it. When that happens, however, be sure to clarify that the stipulation is for a limited purpose—such as for that litigation only.

Here’s what happens if you don’t:  Williamson Complaint

In the new Williamson complaint serial-TCPA filer David Mitchell files a complaint attaching a hearing transcript from one of the Defendant’s past cases. In the transcript the Defendant’s counsel stipulates that the device the Defendant uses is an ATDS. See:

At paragraph 17 of his new TCPA complaint, Counsel Mitchell raises the issue in support of his allegations that the Defendant used an ATDS to contact the Williamson Plaintiff.

So there you go. Don’t get haunted by the ghosts of stipulations past. Happy weekend TCPAWorld.