• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 27, 2017

A Montana resident who unsuccessfully sued Facebook for allegedly violating a robo-texting law, now wants a federal appellate court to revive his case.

The lawsuit dates to March 2015, when Noah Duguid alleged in a 2015 class-action complaint that Facebook repeatedly sent him text messages, although he had never used the social networking service. Duguid, who apparently had been assigned a recycled phone number by his carrier, alleged that Facebook repeatedly notified him via SMS that his account had been accessed.

Duguid argued that the social networking service violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using automated dialers to send text messages to people without their consent.

U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco recently dismissed Duguid's complaint on the grounds that it didn't contain facts to support the claim that the texts were sent via an automated dialing system.

Last week, Noah Duguid began the appellate process by filing papers with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Facebook is currently facing at least two other lawsuits alleging violations of the robo-texting law. District of Columbia resident Christine Holt, who also says she doesn't have a Facebook account, is still suing the company for allegedly sending her SMS messages after she obtained a cell phone from MetroPCS.

Facebook also is fighting a lawsuit by Florida resident Colin Brickman, who alleges in a class-action complaint that the company is violating the anti-spam law by sending users messages about their friends' birthdays. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco recently rejected Facebook's bid to dismiss that matter on free speech grounds.

Last week, the social networking service asked Henderson to authorize an immediate appeal of that ruling.