Dentist Advances Lawsuit Over Insurer’s Unsolicited Faxed Ads

A dentist can go to trial on his claims that a dental insurance firm sent him unwanted faxed advertisements in violation of a consumer protection law, after the Sixth Circuit ruled that the firm’s profit motive was “sufficiently direct.”

The faxes sent by United Concordia Companies Inc. constitute advertisements under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act because they promote third-party products as part of exclusive marketing agreements, Judge Kevin G. Ritz wrote Monday. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a federal district court’s grant of summary judgment to UCCI.

The Sixth Circuit ...