The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is meant to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls, even if those calls are disguised as something else. The complaint for this class action claims that Broadleaf Marketing & SEO, LLC, using the name Web Listing Solutions, made calls to consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry that violated the TCPA.
The complaint alleges that the calls the company makes are autodialed and make use of prerecorded messages. It quotes one such message as saying, in part, “Hello! And please don’t hang up. We’ve tried to contact you numerous times about your Google business listing. Our records show your Google business listing may be suspended or not verified through Google. … Press 1 to speak with a listing pro expert so we can quickly check the status of your Google business listing…”
The complaint claims, “Other prerecorded messages utilized by Broadleaf are similar in nature and focus on Google verifications of business listings and suggest a consumer’s listing is not verified or has some other problem.” When the person presses 1, however, they are connected to a representative in a “Business Listing Department” who then advertises Broadleaf’s services in marketing and search engine optimization.
The plaintiff in this case, Robin Black, documents in the complaint seventeen calls made to her by Broadleaf. The calls used artificial or prerecorded voices and were directed to her cell phone, which has been on the National Do Not Call Registry since 2004.
Also included in the call chart are the numbers that were displayed as the originating numbers. The complaint says, “Upon information and belief, the incoming numbers were ‘spoofed’ to appear that they originated in Tennessee”—where Black lives—“despite Broadleaf being located in Florida.” It adds, “A Google search of these incoming numbers reveals numerous consumer complaints and recordings of the prerecorded messages from a majority of these same numbers.”
The TCPA requires that, before companies make telemarketing calls to consumer sell phones, using automatic dialing systems or artificial or prerecorded voices, they must obtain prior express written consent from the owners of the numbers. According to the complaint, Black never gave Broadleaf any consent to make calls to her, written or otherwise.
Two classes have been defined for this action:
- The TCPA 227(b) Class is all persons in the US to whose telephone number Broadleaf placed (or had placed on its behalf) a prerecorded or artificial voice telemarketing call, or to whose cell phone Broadleaf placed (or had placed on its behalf) a call using an automatic telephone dialing system, since October 1, 2017.
- The TCPA 227(c) Class is all persons in the US to whose telephone number Broadleaf placed (or had placed on its behalf) two or more telemarketing calls in a twelve-month period, since October 1, 2017, when the telephone number was on the National Do Not Call Registry at the time of the calls.
Topic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Broadleaf Marketing Calls to Do Not Call TCPA Complaint
October 1, 2021
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is meant to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls, even if those calls are disguised as something else. The complaint for this class action claims that Broadleaf Marketing & SEO, LLC, using the name Web Listing Solutions, made calls to consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry that violated the TCPA.
Broadleaf Marketing Calls to Do Not Call TCPA ComplaintCase Event History
Broadleaf Marketing Calls to Do Not Call TCPA Complaint
October 1, 2021
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is meant to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls, even if those calls are disguised as something else. The complaint for this class action claims that Broadleaf Marketing & SEO, LLC, using the name Web Listing Solutions, made calls to consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry that violated the TCPA.
Broadleaf Marketing Calls to Do Not Call TCPA Complaint