Hey TCPAWorld!
TCPA litigation is on the rise, with plaintiffs’ attorneys often trying to target companies that aren’t actually engaged in telemarketing. But not this time, the Court got it right and Defendant walked away with a Win (for now at least).
We have an exciting and interesting case out of the Western District of New York where the Court granted Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss finding that the calls made by Medicus Healthcare Solutions, LLC (“Medicus”) were not in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). Rockwell v. Medicus Healthcare Solutions, 2025 WL 959745 (W.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2025).
Plaintiff Rockwell, a physician, alleged that Medicus made multiple unwanted calls to him in 2023 regarding temporary physician placement opportunities. Rockwell, who was registered on the national Do Not Call Registry, received four calls from Medicus offering locum tenens opportunities and other professional services. Despite requesting that the calls stop, he claims that he continued to receive them.
According to his complaint, Rockwell claims that these calls violated the TCPA, which prohibits multiple unsolicited calls to a number on the Do Not Call Registry within a 12-month period and the TCPA implementing regulations, including “No person or entity shall initiate any telephone solicitation to…[a] residential telephone subscriber who has registered his or her telephone number on the national do not-call registry of persons who do not wish to receive telephone solicitations that is maintained by the federal government.” 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2).“Telephone solicitation” is defined as “the initiation of a telephone call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(4); 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(15).
But Medicus correctly argued that the calls were not “telephone solicitations” because they were recruiting calls, not calls to sell or market a product or service. Defendant contended that simply informing Rockwell of job opportunities did not encourage the purchase, rental, or investment in property, goods, or services. Exactly!
The Court noted that several district courts have concluded that communications sent for the purpose of job recruitment do not constitute telemarketing or telephone solicitations and ultimately, sided with Medicus, citing the case of Gerrard v. Acara Solutions, Inc., where recruitment calls were found not to violate the TCPA. The Court emphasized that Medicus’s calls were not made to sell anything to Rockwell; instead, they were designed to recruit physicians for staffing opportunities, which does not fall under the definition of “telemarketing” or “telephone solicitation” under the TCPA.
The Court also noted that Rockwell did not allege that Medicus would receive payment for the professional services provided to him or that any of those services were intended to generate revenue from him.
“It is possible that an individual client like Rockwell would pay a fee if he accepted Medicus’s placement for professional services or have a portion of his eventual income earmarked to cover those services. But it is equally possible that Medicus receives no payment for these services and simply uses them as a tool to ensure it has qualified candidates to place with its corporate clients seeking short-term staffing. In the absence of any allegations about the workings of Medicus’s business model and the role that its professional services play in that business model, this Court cannot conclude that the telephone calls Rockwell received constituted “telemarketing” or “telephone solicitation” under the TCPA and its implementing regulations.”
Without this critical element, the Court could not conclude that the calls constituted a violation of the TCPA. As a result, the Court granted Medicus’s Motion to Dismiss the complaint, dismissing it without prejudice. Rockwell was given 30 days to amend his complaint to address any deficiencies identified by the Court.
This ruling underscores that recruitment calls—without the element of selling goods or services—do not violate the TCPA.
Til next time!!!