Bank of the West Reaches $3.3M TCPA Class Action Settlement

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On Jun. 6, Bank of the West came to a $3.3 million settlement agreement regarding a Telephone Consumer Protection Action (TCPA) class action lawsuit after two years of litigation.

The original plaintiffs of the TCPA class action lawsuit, Younus Bayat and Mohammed Ereikat, were Bank of the West customers who allege that they received calls by Bank of the West’s automatic dialing service concerning accrued debt. They claim that they had not given a phone number nor had they consented to be called on their cellphones and that these debt collection calls persisted against their wishes, in violation of federal law.

Bayat and Ereikat have stated in the settlement motion that they are pursuing this robocall class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other Class Members.

“The primary focus of the Settlement is prospective practice changes. Specifically, … Bank of the West shall not make use of …  an automatic telephone dialing system and/or an artificial or prerecorded voice, to call Class Members’ cellular telephones or to send text messages to their cellular telephones,” the TCPA class action lawsuit states.

Bank of the West TCPA Class Members include everyone who received a Bank of the West non-emergency robocall after 2008. After attorneys’ fees, there is about $2.2 million allocated in a settlement fund available to Class Members who file a qualified claim.

Before the TCPA class action lawsuit settlement agreement and during the previous TCPA class action lawsuits, Bank of the West maintains that Bayat and Ereikat did give prior consent by answering bank calls and not revoking that consent. In their testimony, they maintain that they followed TCPA laws. The plaintiffs maintain that their numbers were not given during any previous debt transactions and that Bank of the West violated and continues to violate TCPA by robo-calling them and other Class Members.

UPDATE: A federal judge preliminarily approved the Bank of the West TCPA class action settlement on July 22, 2014. See our detailed instructions on how to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On June 22, 2015, viewers began reporting they were receiving checks in the mail from the Bank of the West TCPA class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who submitted valid claims and got PAID!

UPDATE 3: On Dec. 2, 2016, Top Class Actions readers who submitted valid claims for the Bank of the West TCPA class action settlement started receiving a second round of settlement checks in the mail worth as much as $4.79. Congratulations to everyone who got PAID!

What is The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)?

The U.S. Congress, in 1991, passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, instituted for the purpose of restricting telephone soliciting and telemarketing, with special attention paid to telephone soliciting and telemarketing made on automated telephone equipment.

The TCPA works to limit how and when any company can use automatic telephone dialing systems (robocall systems) with computerized voice messages or text messages when contacting clients, patients, and other types of consumers. Additionally, the TCPA requires companies and solicitors to honor the National Do Not Call Registry, which anyone can enroll in at any time.

Bank of the West’s alleged violations of the TCPA include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: “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.”

Bayat, Ereikay, and other Class Members allege that Bank of the West did not follow TCPA laws and used robocall systems with computerized recordings to call customers without previous consent.

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. Learn more and see if you qualify for a legal claim at the Text Message Spam, Unwanted Cell Phone Calls TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation.