If your company relies on lead generators, marketing vendors, or other third parties to place telemarketing calls, a new Seventh Circuit decision provides important guidance on when your business may, and may not, be responsible for their mistakes.

Companies are often sued not because they made the calls, but because someone else did. And when that “someone” is a third-party lead generator, plaintiffs need more than speculation to tie the defendant to the phone call. That was the key issue in Lightfoot v. SelectQuote, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-04673, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103026 (N.D. Ill. May 30, 2025), where SelectQuote secured a win at the motion to dismiss stage by showing the call in question didn’t mention them at all.

Dismissing a TCPA lawsuit early is no small feat. The recent case of Jubb v. CHW Grp., Inc., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59172 (D.N.J. Mar. 28, 2025), highlights how easily plaintiffs can plead both direct and vicarious liability, keeping businesses entangled in litigation.