Michael Aram Retail, a home furnishings company headquartered in Florida that sells a wide variety of goods, uses aggressive marketing to push its products “without regards to consumers’ rights” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged plaintiff Dionne Hardiman’s class action Thursday (docket 9:24-cv-80029) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach. Hardiman seeks injunctive relief to halt the retailer’s illegal conduct, “which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation, and disruption of the daily life of thousands of individuals,” said her complaint. The Montcalm County, Michigan, resident also seeks statutory damages on behalf of herself and members of the class, plus “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” it said. Beginning Nov. 27, the defendant sent or caused to be sent multiple telemarketing text messages to Hardiman’s cellphone, to a number listed on the national do not call registry since Oct. 23, it said. At no point in time did Hardiman provide the defendant with her express written consent to be contacted, and she has no existing business relationship with the company, it said.
United Insurance Professionals, which sells policies on behalf of several insurance companies, made multiple telemarketing calls to residential phone numbers, despite their presence on the national do not call registry, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged Kelly Pinn’s class action Thursday (docket 2:24-cv-00127) in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Columbus. Pinn, a Texas resident, never consented to receive the calls, said the complaint. Her number has been listed on the registry since February 2009, yet United phoned her at least 17 times since Dec. 11 to sell her final expense insurance, and did so using various illegally spoofed caller ID numbers, it said. Pinn’s cellphone number is used for residential purposes and isn’t associated with a business, nor is it associated with a phone service sold for business use, it said. Pinn and members of the class have been harmed “because their privacy has been violated, they were annoyed and harassed, and, in some instances, they may have been charged for incoming calls,” it said. The calls also occupied their cellphone lines, “rendering them unavailable for legitimate communication,” it said.
U.S. District Judge Matthew McFarland for Southern Ohio in Cincinnati conditionally dismissed with prejudice plaintiff Amy Faler's individual Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against defendant Dailylook, said the judge’s signed order Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-00647). Any of the remaining claims of Faler's proposed class are dismissed without prejudice, said the order. Any of the parties may, upon good cause shown within 30 days, move to reopen the action if settlement isn’t consummated, said the order. The parties told the court in a Dec. 8 notice that they had reached a settlement (see 2312110014). Dailylook, a personal styling subscription service, engages in unsolicited text-messaging to promote its goods and services, and continues to text consumers after they opt out of its solicitations, alleged Faler’s Oct. 5 TCPA class action.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher for Maryland in Baltimore set a May 28 discovery deadline in Erin Wilcox and Connie Slingbaum's class action to halt the alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act wrongdoing of MarketPro Homebuyers, a real estate marketing company and leads generation business (see 2308300002), said the judge’s signed scheduling order Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-02364). May 28 also is the parties’ deadline for filing their joint status report, said the order. The judge will convene a scheduling conference after the status report is filed, it said. Wilcox and Slingbaum allege that MarketPro bombards consumers whose numbers are listed on the national do not call registry with text-message solicitations seeking to buy their homes for cash “as is,” but the plaintiffs say they aren’t, and weren’t, interested in selling their homes and that they didn't consent to receiving the texts.
Within the federal government’s “web of indecipherable acronyms and byzantine programs,” the national do not call registry “stands out as a model of clarity,” said plaintiff Monica Abboud’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Wednesday (docket 4:24-cv-00102) in U.S. District Court for Southern Texas in Houston to stop the Haus of Skin Aesthetics, a skin care company, from texting her with product solicitations. The DNC registry “means what it says,” said Abboud’s complaint. “If a person wishes to no longer receive telephone solicitations, he can add his number to the list,” it said. The Texas resident listed her cellphone number on the registry in 2020, yet the company still hounded her with text messages, said her complaint. Before filing the lawsuit, Abboud’s counsel contacted the company, which didn’t deny sending the texts, it said. Abboud and her potential class members “were harmed by the conduct that invaded their privacy,” the complaint said.
Plaintiff Ezra Elstein voluntarily dismissed without prejudice his Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action against Premium Capital Fund only five days after filing his complaint against the business loan company, said his notice Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-00086) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. Elstein had alleged the company waged a campaign of “illegal text messaging” to numbers listed on the national do not call registry (see 2401070001).
Credit Management Services, a debt collector, violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by refusing to stop calling plaintiff Yolanda Cosme on her cellphone and also by phoning her employer and unlawfully discussing her debt with a co-worker, alleged Cose’s complaint Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-00082) in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas. “The repeated calls are especially frustrating because they come from multiple unrecognized numbers,” said the complaint. Cosme has sent several letters “disputing the validity of the debt,” but the company “failed to provide verification of the debt” and continues to contact her, it said. The company placed the calls using an automatic telephone dialing system or with an artificial or prerecorded voice, in violation of the TCPA.
Plaintiff Porsche Stegall and defendant New York Tribeca Group (NYTG) agreed to dismiss with prejudice the entirety of Stegall’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against the company, said their stipulation Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-02862) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. The dismissal is “without costs to any party,” said the stipulation. Stegall had alleged in her May 5 class action that NYTG, a commercial loan company, runs “an aggressive cold-calling telemarketing campaign” that violates the TCPA because it places calls to residential numbers listed on the national do not call registry (see 2305080003).
The 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court scheduled a dial-in mediation conference for Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. PST in plaintiff-appellant Patricia Crawford’s appeal that seeks to reverse the district court’s dismissal of her Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against the National Rifle Association’s political action committee, said the court’s order Tuesday (docket 23-3830). Under the 9th Circuit’s newly amended briefing schedule, Crawford’s opening brief is due Feb. 9, the NRA’s answering brief is due March 11 and Crawford’s optional reply brief is due 21 days from the service date of the answering brief, said the order. Crawford alleges she received a text message from the NRA that included a video file with an audible prerecorded voice. She contends that the district court erred by concluding that the video didn’t violate the TCPA’s prohibitions against calls and text messages with artificial or prerecorded voices. Another case with identical issues, Jacob Howard v. Republican National Committee (docket 23-3826), is also pending before the 9th Circuit (see 2311290033).
MarketPro Homebuyers, a real estate marketing company and leads generation business, has complied with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act “and is entitled to each defense stated in the TCPA and any and all limitations of liability,” said its answer Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-02364) in U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore to the class action allegations of plaintiffs Erin Wilcox and Connie Slingbaum (see 2308300002). The plaintiffs allege that MarketPro bombards consumers whose numbers are listed on the national do not call registry with text-message solicitations seeking to buy their homes for cash “as is.” But the plaintiffs’ claims are barred because MarketPro didn’t initiate any telephone solicitations nor engage in telemarketing activity directed to them, said MarketPro’s answer. The plaintiffs also failed to take reasonable steps “to mitigate, alter, reduce, or otherwise diminish the alleged damages,” and so they’re barred “from recovering any damages that might have been prevented,” it said. MarketPro also contends that the plaintiffs aren’t the owners of the cellphone numbers identified in their complaint, and that they don’t maintain those numbers “as personal residential numbers,” it said.