DISCLAIMER: This article is based on a complaint. The defendant has not responded to the complaint to present its side of the case. The claims mentioned are accusations and should be considered as such until and unless proven otherwise.
An individual in Florida has filed a class-action Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint against a company, accusing it of placing pre-recorded calls without the prior express written consent that sought to sell health insurance policies. The defendant, according to the complaint, has previously been the subject of a consent order with the state of New York after it was accused of making 48 unsolicited telemarketing calls to residents whose telephone numbers were on the national Do Not Call registry.
The Background: The plaintiff, whose phone numbers have been on the national and state Do Not Call lists for more than a decade, started receiving calls in 2022 for someone named “Kelsey” (not the plaintiff’s name).
- The plaintiff tried calling back the numbers that were used, but received automated messages that the numbers were not in service.
- When the plaintiff would not answer the calls, identical voicemail messages were left, according to the complaint, asking for someone to return the call. These messages were pre-recorded, according to the plaintiff, because the messages that were left were the same and because others have posted the exact same messages on online messageboards.
- When the plaintiff called the number left in the voicemail, a live representative would answer and identified the company as “Insurance Marketplace” and claimed to sell government health insurance policies.
The Claims: The plaintiff is accusing the defendant of violating Section 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) of the TCPA by making pre-recorded calls en masse to individuals without obtaining their prior consent.
- The suit seeks to include anyone in the United States who received a call from the defendant on his or her cell phone that used an artificial or pre-recorded voice.