The United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York recently granted summary judgement against Time Warner Cable, and awarded the plaintiff $229,500 as statutory damages for the 153 automated calls Time Warner made to the plaintiff’s cell phone.

Time Warner tried to defend their actions by arguing that they had been trying to reach the previous owner of the plaintiff’s phone number, and that the case should be stayed until the FCC provides guidance on the meaning of a “called party.” The court was unpersuaded by this argument and cited to the FCC’s June 18, 2015 press release where it stated that “Reassigned Numbers Aren’t Loopholes.”

The fact that at least one court is already relying on the FCC’s press release describing their upcoming declaratory rulings is a dark indication of things to come. It is likely that the rulings, once their full text is released, will promote a flurry of new TCPA lawsuits.