Martindale-Hubbell Legal Services Made Illegal Calls TCPA Class Action

What can you say about a company selling its legal referral services via illegal telemarketing calls? The complaint for this class action alleges that Martindale-Hubbell, Inc. made autodialed sales calls and sent voicemails to consumers in an attempt to drum up customers for its legal business. Martindale-Hubbell provides information services for the legal profession and acts as a referral source for new clients.

Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to protect consumers from the ever-increasing barrage of telemarketing calls and messages. Among its provisions, the law set up a National Do Not Call Registry so that consumers could register their numbers and request not to be called.

Plaintiff Natascha Aabbott listed her cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry, but the complaint says that she has received several sales calls and voicemails from Martindale-Hubbell, beginning in the middle of 2018. Beginning in September, she also began receiving e-mails from the company. Some of the calls, e-mails, and voicemails seem to have come from a person named Lance Cherisier, who is identified variously as a marketing specialist, lead generator, and regional account manager for Martindale-Hubbell.

When she picked up the calls, she said there were a few seconds of “dead air” before a representative came on the line, which the complaint claims is a sign that the calls were placed by an automatic dialing system. She claims that she never gave her consent to receive such calls and that several times she asked the company not to call her again.

Three classes and a subclass have been proposed for this action. 

• The No-Consent Class is all persons in the US (a) to whose cell phones (b) Martindale-Hubbell, directly or through another party, (c) made calls using an automatic dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice (d) without first obtaining the person’s prior express consent, (e) between January 21, 2015 and the certification of the class in this case. There is also a No Written Consent Subclass. 
• The National Do Not Call List Class is all persons in the US (a) whose numbers were on the National Do Not Call Registry, and (b) to whom Martindale-Hubbell, directly or through another party, (c) placed more than one call or message in a twelve-month period, (d) to promote its goods or services, (e) between January 21, 2015 and the certification of the class in this case.
• The Internal Do Not Call List Class is all persons in the US (a) to whom Martindale-Hubbell, directly or through another party, (b) placed more than one call or message in a twelve-month period, (c) between January 21, 2015 and the certification of the class in this case (d) where Martindale-Hubbell’s or the third party’s records show that the person had previously said that he or she did not want to receive calls from on or behalf of Martindale-Hubbell.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Called Number on Do Not Call Registry, Failure to List on Internal Do Not Call List, TCPA, Unsolicited Cell Phone Calls, Use of Automatic-Capable Dialer