| Volume 122 Number 7 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
A debt collector may call you at work until he or she knows your employer prohibits such calls. Once you tell the debt collector the calls are prohibited, federal law says the calls must stop. Click here for more.
Robocallers Posing as the IRS
Groups have used April tax paranoia to fuel fraudulent robocalls. These groups use calls masked by US phone numbers and claim to be affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service to get anxious taxpayers to fall for their schemes. The scam hit millions of phone numbers over the past few weeks. Click here for more.
Your Money
Although states are all over the map when it comes to their policies on taxing retirement income, the consensus is that those who are retired are in a better situation. The Internal Revenue Service takes it easy when it comes to taxation of Social Security, and many retirees drop into lower tax brackets that help soften the tax bite taken from pensions, IRAs dividends and capital gains. Many states even exempt Social Security from taxation, and a handful exempt all retirement income. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Technology providers are not liable for another’s misuse of its technology under the TCPA. The consumer argued that LiveVox, a provider of automated dialer software, is liable for calls made using its software. Because LiveVox provided technology to enable the debt collector in this case to engage in its dialing campaigns, it was liable for calls that violated the TCPA. The Eastern District of Michigan rejected this argument and granted LiveVox’s motion to dismiss. The Court noted Congress only intended for the statute to apply “to the persons initiating the telephone call or sending the message and … not the common carrier or other entity that transmits the call or message and that is not the originator or controller of the content of the call or message.” Selou v. Integrity Solution Services, Case No. 15-1097 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 16, 2016). Click here for more.