Brief Krakauer v. Dish Network, LLC on

• Identify the parties.
• What is the history of the case?
• What are the facts?
• What is the plaintiff's theory?
• What is the defendant's theory?
• What is the legal issue?
• What is the holding of the Court?
• What is the reasoning of the Court?
• Evaluative Question: What do you think about this case? Was this case decided correctly? Why or why not?

In May 2009, Satellite Systems Network (SSN) repeatedly called Dr. Thomas Krakauer, asking him to purchase television services through Dish Network, L.L.C. (Dish). SSN's sole business was direct marketing calls to consumers on behalf of television service providers. During the relevant time in 2009, SSN was only working for Dish.

Krakauer had registered his phone number on the national Do-Not-Call registry in 2003. The national registry was established by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to prevent abusive telephone marketing practices. The TCPA prohibited calls to numbers on the national Do-Not-Call registry; thus, SSN's calls to Dr. Krakauer violated the TCPA.

Krakauer sued Dish for violating the TCPA by having SSN call on its behalf, and he sought to certify his lawsuit as a class action on behalf of all persons who, like him, had received similar calls to numbers listed on the Do-Not-Call registry.

The district court certified the class and the case proceeded to trial, which Dish Network lost.

Dish Network appealed on a number of bases, including that the district court improperly instructed the jury regarding agency law. Dish Network argued that SSN was not its agent, and, therefore, it should not be responsible for SSN's acts in violation of the TCPA.