9th Cir.;
15-17328

The court of appeals affirmed a judgment. The court held that because a telemarketing company acts as an independent contractor for a company whose products it sold, and not as the company's agent, the company could not be held vicariously liable for any calls the telemarketers made in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Royal Administration Services, Inc. was in the business of providing vehicle service contracts (VSCs) to automobile owners. Royal contracted with some 20 different marketing vendors to sell its products. One of those was telemarketer All American Auto Protection, Inc. (AAAP). AAAP, in turn, sold VSC's for multiple companies. Its telemarketers were trained to offer the VSC product that best suited each individual customer. Royal's contract with AAAP specifically required AAAP to comply with state and federal laws pertaining to telemarketing. Royal provided training to AAAP's telemarketers only to the extent necessary to familiarize them with Royal's product. Nevada residents Charles Jones and Josh Watson received telephone calls from AAAP telemarketers that allegedly violated the TCPA. They filed a putative class action against both AAAP and Royal.