TCPA Compliance Risks: How Tech Stacks Can Trigger Litigation

Tom Woods
Partner, Litigation

Abstract

Tom Woods, a seasoned litigator at Stoel Rives LLP in Sacramento, explains how evolving technology is reshaping compliance obligations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). As companies increasingly rely on automated systems to communicate with customers, they may inadvertently violate TCPA rules—especially when it comes to processing real-time revocations of consent. These missteps can expose businesses to costly class action lawsuits.

Woods notes a shift in client needs from litigation defense to proactive compliance advice, as companies recognize the high stakes of noncompliance. He emphasizes the importance of preventive strategies, highlighting how issues related to privacy, accessibility, and process adherence often surface during risk assessments. For legal and business leaders, staying ahead of these challenges is no longer optional—it’s essential to avoid significant exposure and maintain trust in customer communications.

Transcript

I am Tom Woods. I joined Stoel Rives in 2011. I have always been a member of the firm's Litigation and Trial Practice Group here in Sacramento.

Is your tech stack quietly setting you up for lawsuits under the TCPA?

The Telephone Consumer Percent Protection Act, and that is something we defend in class actions quite frequently and we have been watching the trends. The trends have gone from calling people without their prior express written consent en masse, and it has become more process oriented and procedure oriented and test of whether clients are absorbing these real-time revocations of consent don't call me anymore. We now have this access to technology where your revocation of consent could be instantaneous and then a call comes in, you could have a violation. The litigation becomes an investigation into the process and whether the clients are complying with the process. The penalties in these cases can be pretty devastating for a company depending on the number of calls that there are out of compliance.

I do think that our work has become a little less litigation driven because you now have all this technology. You can see cases getting filed in the industry against your competitors and the other companies that are in your industry. You are hearing more and more quickly from trade associations. It is becoming what advice can we get on the front end? Companies are learning a little bit more that the ounce of prevention is worth the pound of cure and we help them with that, so that is the trend. We were not so much in the service offering of the preventative techniques to litigation, and it ends up often growing when you are looking at the offerings and kind of the framework for the companies communicating with their customers, you end up noting privacy issues. You end up noting accessibility issues. You can really help a company. That ounce of prevention ends up being worth a lot at the end of the day.