Dish One Satellite Faces TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Over Cell Phone Calls

Dish One Satellite, LLC was hit with a class action lawsuit over allegations that the company negligently and willfully placed unsolicited calls to cell phones in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Lead plaintiff Carrie Couser of California filed the TCPA class action lawsuit after allegedly receiving multiple sales calls on her cell phone even after she specifically asked Dish One to stop calling.

Couser believes that Dish One obtained her cell phone number from a form she filled out in 2012 provided by another company when she was considering the satellite TV provider.

The TCPA class action lawsuit claims that the unwanted phone calls began in February 2014. Couser states that during one of the calls, a Dish agent said that someone from the company came to her house in December but she had declined service at that time, so they were just following up.

The plaintiff alleges that she never gave them permission to call it her cell number. Couser believes that Dish obtained her number from the company when it attempted to sell her TV service in 2012.

According to the TCPA class action lawsuit, call to her were made using an automatic telephone dialing system which is another violation of the TCPA. Plaintiff Couser states that not only did she never give prior consent for Dish to call her, she also had to pay for each of the incoming phone calls she received from them.

If approved, the TCPA class action lawsuit would be open to class members within the U.S. who received any communication from Dish made to a cell phone through the use of any automatic telephone dialing system within the last four years.

Couser is seeking $500 for each negligent TCPA violation and $1,500 for each willful TCPA violation.

TCPA Overview

In 1991 Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which made it illegal for telemarketers to place robocalls without prior express consent. In 2013, the TCPA defined “express consent” as a signed written agreement between the business and customer with the exception of calls from debt collection agencies.

TCPA violations include:

• Unsolicited text messages
• Using an automatic dialing system to place phone calls
• Calls to homes before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time
• Unsolicited cell phone calls
• Robocalls with prerecorded messages
• Calls to consumers who specifically ask the company not to call them
• Failing to identify the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made
• Unsolicited advertising faxes
• Calling consumers whose numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry

TCPA Lawsuits

Because of the large amount of calls that can go out at once using an automatic dialing system, companies that are found liable of TCPA violations are often required to pay millions of dollars to plaintiffs.

Hundreds of TCPA lawsuits have been filed across the U.S. as more plaintiffs become informed of their rights regarding unsolicited phone calls and choose to hold companies accountable for TCPA violations.

The TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 5:15-cv-01194-CBM-DTB in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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