Opinion ID: 4534775
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: In this pair of appeals, we are asked to decide whether faxes soliciting participation by the recipients in market research surveys in exchange for monetary payments are advertisements within the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (b)(1)(C) (“TCPA”), which prohibits the transmission of unsolicited fax advertisements. Applying our recent precedent in Mauthe v. Optum, Inc., 925 F.3d 129 (3d Cir. 2019), the District Courts dismissed both cases under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) as the Courts concluded that such surveys are not advertisements within the TCPA because they did not attempt to sell anything to their recipients. We hold, however, that solicitations to buy products, goods, or services can be advertisements under the TCPA and the solicitations for participation in the surveys in exchange for $200.00 by one sender and $150.00 by the other sender were for services within the TCPA.1 Defendants characterize the proposed payments as “honorariums” or “gifts”. Consequently, we will reverse the District Courts’ dismissal of these cases by orders dated August 26, 2019, in Fischbein v. Olson Research Group, No. 19-3018, and August 29, 2019, in Mauthe v. ITC, Inc., No. 19-3222, and will remand the cases to the District Courts for further proceedings.2 1 In some circumstances lesser payments were involved. 2 In Mauthe v. National Imaging Assocs., we pointed out that we were not addressing the question of whether a fax in which the sender is seeking to buy something from the recipient comes within the TCPA. 767 F. App’x 246, 249 n.1 (3d Cir. 2019). 5