Wal-Mart Pharmacy Robocalls Dial Up TCPA Class Action Lawsuit

Early last week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was sued in a TCPA class action lawsuit filed in Florida federal court. The lead plaintiff alleges Wal-Mart made numerous unsolicited calls to his mobile phone to persuade him to refill a drug prescription, a potential violation of the Telephone Consumers Protection Act.

Plaintiff James Poole alleges in the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit that several years after he switched his drug prescription from the retailer’s pharmacy to a competing pharmacy, Wal-Mart continued to make calls to Poole’s cellphone without his permission. Poole claims the calls were allegedly made using an automated telephone dialing system and that the message urging him to switch back to the Wal-Mart pharmacy was pre-recorded, robo-call message. These are direct violations of the TCPA, he claims.

The Wal-Mart TCPA class action lawsuit further alleges that during the calls, Poole was not given an option to opt-out of receiving Wal-Mart’s calls to his cellphone. Even though the pre-recorded message did instruct the plaintiff to press a certain number to discontinue receiving these phone calls, doing so allegedly only replayed the same unsolicited phone call message.

According to Poole’s TCPA class action lawsuit, “Wal-Mart failed to honor plaintiff’s request to opt out of receiving the calls, and failed to comply with the TCPA’s requirement that consumers be allowed to opt out via an automated, interactive voice-and/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism.” After the opt-out button instructions failed to stop the unsolicited phone calls, the plaintiff directly called Wal-Mart’s corporate office. However, the office personnel informed Poole that they could not complete is his request to cease the phone calls.

Poole is seeking to represent himself and a Class that would include:  “(1) all persons in the United States (2) to whose cellular telephone number (3) Wal-Mart placed a non-emergency telephone call (4) using an artificial or prerecorded voice relating to prescription medications (5) within four years of the complaint (6) where Wal-Mart did not have express written consent to call said cellular telephone number[.]” The potential number of Wal-Mart TCPA Class Members could be in the thousands at the very least.

The Wal-Mart TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Poole v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-23519, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

What is The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)?

The Telephone Consumers Protection Act (TCPA) is a set of laws that limit how and when a company can contact potential or current customers. The TCPA pays especially close attention to how companies use automated telephone dialing equipment, as well as prerecorded messages (also known as robocalls) to in soliciting and telemarketing.

In this TCPA class action lawsuits, Wal-Mart faces allegations of :

“Making and/or initiating telephone calls using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to any telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service, in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) and 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(1)(iii).”

Wal-Mart  is not the only company facing TCPA class action litigation for allegedly unsolicited phone calls using automated dialing systems. Hundreds of U.S. consumers have filed TCPA civil and class action lawsuits in just the past couple years and the number of TCPA class action lawsuits are likely to grow as more consumers are informed of their TCPA rights.

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.