Mahboob

I. Background

21 A. Defendant’s Recording Practice 22 Defendant Educational Credit Management Corporation (“ECMC”) is a non-profit 23 organization that is a guaranty agency in the Federal Family Education Loan Program. 24 (Rushford Decl. ¶ 7, ECF No. 225-6.) In the course of its business, Defendant places and 25 receives a large amount of telephone calls. During the period between August 2, 2014 and 26 March 31, 2015 (“class period”), Defendant recorded all inbound and outbound calls that 27 reached a live customer service representative using a phone dialer system provided by 28 During the class period, the Noble Dialer was programmed to play the following pre-recorded opening message for inbound calls: “Thank you for calling ECMC. This call is being recorded. Please hold while we connect you to an available representative.” (Id. at 33.) This prerecorded opening message played in approximately four seconds. (Id. at 52.) The Noble Dialer provided Defendant with the option to play this message as a “mandatory message” or a “non-mandatory message.” (Id. at 65, 101.) A mandatory message completes even if a representative becomes available…