Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to try to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing nuisances. The complaint for this class action alleges that, despite the law, Southern California Telephone Company (SCTC) made calls to consumers that violate the law’s provisions.
In passing the TCPA, Congress hoped to give consumers some control over which companies contacted them with promotional information. One of its provisions was the establishment of a National Do Not Call Registry where consumers could list the numbers of their residential phone lines to say that they did not want to be contacted.
In this case, plaintiff Robert Bernstein has a residential line which he placed on the National Do Not Call Registry in 2003.
In July and August of 2019, however, he received what the complaint calls “numerous solicitation calls.”
Bernstein did not want the telemarketing calls. The complaint alleges, “During a number of those calls, [Bernstein] requested that he no longer be called.” Also, “[d]uring one of those calls, [SCTC] informed [Bernstein] that he would be placed on its do not call list.” However, the calls did not stop.
When he received yet another call on August 8, 2019, he made a public complaint against the company on the Internet. The company responded and apologized; however, at the same time, the complaint says, it continued to make calls, calling Bernstein again the following month.
Bernstein claims he has never given the company his consent to call. The complaint alleges that none of those who receive telemarketing calls from SCTC have consented to receive them: “That’s because Southern California Telephone Company purchases the telephone numbers for calls it’s going to make from the internet.”
It claims that the company is violating the TCPA in at least three ways:
- It does not have a written policy on “do not call” requests.
- It has not trained its employee on the existence or use of an internal “do not call” list.
- It does not appear to record or honor “do not call” requests.
Two classes have been defined for this action.
- The National Do Not Call Registry Class is all persons in the US to whom (a) SCTC or any person acting on its behalf initiated more than one telephone solicitation call (b) in a twelve-month period (c) promoting its goods or services (d) where the call was made to a residential telephone line, including a cell phone, (e) the number for which had been on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least 31 days, (f) between October 2, 2015 and the trial in this case.
- The Internal Do Not Call List Class is all persons in the US to whom (a) SCTC or any person acting on its behalf initiated more than one telephone solicitation call (b) promoting its goods or services (c) on their cell phone or residential phone line, (e) between October 2, 2015 and the trial in this case.
Topic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Southern California Telephone Co. DNC List Violation TCPA Complaint
October 2, 2019
Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to try to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing nuisances. The complaint for this class action alleges that, despite the law, Southern California Telephone Company (SCTC) made calls to consumers that violate the law’s provisions.
southern_cal_telephone_co_tcpa_complaint.pdfCase Event History
Southern California Telephone Co. DNC List Violation TCPA Complaint
October 2, 2019
Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to try to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing nuisances. The complaint for this class action alleges that, despite the law, Southern California Telephone Company (SCTC) made calls to consumers that violate the law’s provisions.
southern_cal_telephone_co_tcpa_complaint.pdf