FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT LUCINE TRIM, individually and on No. 22-55517 behalf of all others similarly situated, D.C. No. Plaintiff-Appellant, 2:20-cv-01027- v. SVW-KS REWARD ZONE USA LLC; DOES, 1-10 inclusive, OPINION Defendants-Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Stephen V. Wilson, District Judge, Presiding Submitted June 28, 2023 * Pasadena, California Filed August 8, 2023 Before: N. Randy Smith, Kenneth K. Lee, and Lawrence VanDyke, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge Smith * The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). 2 TRIM V. REWARD ZONE USA LLC SUMMARY ** Telephone Consumer Protection Act The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Lucine Trim’s cause of action alleging a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, when Reward Zone USA, LLC, sent her at least three mass marketing text messages that utilized “prerecorded voice[s].” The panel held that the text messages did not use prerecorded voices under the Act because they did not include audible components. The panel relied on the statutory context of the Act and the ordinary meaning of voice, which showed that Congress used the word voice to include only an audible sound, and not a more symbolic definition such as an instrument or medium of expression. The panel addressed Trim’s appeal of the district court’s dismissal of another cause of action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in a simultaneously-filed memorandum disposition. ** This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. TRIM V. REWARD ZONE USA LLC 3 COUNSEL Todd M. Friedman, Adrian R. Bacon, and Thomas E. Wheeler, Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman, Woodland Hills, California, for Plaintiff-Appellant. Neil Asnen, Klein Moynihan Turco LLP, New York, New York; Jay T. Ramsey, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, Los Angeles, California; for Defendant-Appellee. OPINION N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judge: Plaintiff Lucine Trim (Trim) appeals from the district court’s partial judgment granting a motion to dismiss in favor of Defendant, Reward Zone USA, LLC (Reward Zone), in a putative class action lawsuit brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In Trim’s second cause of action, which is the subject of this opinion, Trim alleged a violation of the TCPA, 47 U.S.C. § 227, because she received at least three mass marketing text messages from Reward Zone which utilized “prerecorded voice[s],” id. § 227(b)(1)(A). We hold that these text messages did not use prerecorded voices under the TCPA, because they did not include audible components. This conclusion follows from the statutory context of the TCPA, and the ordinary meaning of voice, which show that Congress used the word voice to include only an audible sound, and not a more symbolic definition such as an instrument or medium of expression. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s grant of Reward Zone’s motion to dismiss the …
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