Class Action Seeks to Stop Car Warranty Firm From Calling Numbers on DNC Registry
Plaintiff Melanie Kotlarsz, a resident of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, seeks to stop Integrity Vehicle Services, a Costa Mesa, California, seller of vehicle warranty services, from calling people whose numbers are listed on the national do not call registry, said her…
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Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Monday (docket 8:24-cv-00569) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana. Kotlarsz listed her residential cellphone number on the national DNC registry in August 2004, yet Integrity or its agents called her “many times over the past year,” including twice on Jan. 10 and 11, said her complaint. Kotlarsz repeatedly asked Integrity during those calls to stop calling her, “but the calls persisted, often two or three times per day,” it said. Kotlarsz pleads “direct liability” against Integrity for initiating the calls because Integrity identified itself as the entity making the calls, and its sales reps stated that they worked for Integrity, it said. In the alternative, if Integrity didn't directly make the calls, she pleads the company is “vicariously liable for the conduct of its agents,” said the complaint. The agents making calls “held themselves out as persons authorized” to market Integrity’s services, and identified themselves as Integrity’s employees, it said. “At a minimum,” Integrity’s employees “accepted transfers from a third party that was marketing and soliciting car warranty services” on Integrity’s behalf, it said. “A reasonable person would understand the third party initiating the calls would be doing so at the direction and with the authority” of Integrity, it said. By accepting call transfers from the third party and continuing to solicit car warranties on the calls, Integrity “was ratifying the conduct made on its behalf,” it said. Before the calls at issue in the class action began, Kotlarsz hadn’t had contact with Integrity or used its services, it said. She also has never consented, “in writing, or otherwise,” to receive telemarketing calls from Integrity, it said. She also “has no interest in purchasing a new auto warranty,” it said. Indeed, she has had the same car insurance for years and has no interest in switching, the suit said.