American Express Class Action Filed Over Unwanted Calls

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American Express Company faces a class action lawsuit accusing the company of calling consumers’ telephones without their consent, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Plaintiff Helen Harris says she received prerecorded telephone calls from American Express even though she had not provided her express written consent to receive such communications.

According to the AmEx class action lawsuit, she did not have an American Express account during the time period she received calls from the company.

“Beginning at least as early as December 2015, American Express repeatedly called Harris’s cellular telephone,” the TCPA class action lawsuit states. “Harris received repeated, harassing calls at all hours of the day.”

Harris says that most of the calls she received from AmEx were prerecorded and that she was therefore unable to voice her complaints to a real person, or request that the company cease calling her. According to the AmEx class action lawsuit, the prerecorded voice offered to lower her interest rate, despite the fact she did not have any type of account with American Express at the time.

A few calls did involve a live person on the other end, Harris says. On two occasions, Harris says she told a live caller that they had the wrong number and asked them not to call again. One caller informed Harris that a person named “Mary Harris” had applied for a credit card, the TCPA class action lawsuit states.

Despite her attempts to get American Express to stop calling her, the calls continued through November 2016, according to the AmEx TCPA class action lawsuit. These unwanted AmEx phone calls reportedly reduced the number of cell phone minutes that were available to Harris on to her cell phone plan.

Harris says that American Express has previously been cited for violations of the TCPA. In March 2005, the Federal Communications Commission reportedly warned AmEx that any future violations may subject the company to penalties of as much as $11,000 per TCPA violation.

By filing the TCPA class action lawsuit, Harris seeks to represent a Class of consumers who, after Jan. 31, 2013, received on a cell phone a non-emergency telemarketing call from American Express that was made using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, and who did not provide their express written consent to receive such calls.

Harris also seeks to represent a Class of consumers who, after Jan. 31, 2013, continued to receive telephone calls from American Express after telling the company that it had the wrong number.

The TCPA class action lawsuit seeks statutory damages of between $500 and $1,000 per violation.

Harris is represented by Jonathan D. Selbin, Daniel M. Hutchinson and Andrew R. Kaufman of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and Matthew R. Wilson of Meyer Wilson Co. LPA.

The American Express TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Helen Harris v. American Express Company, Case No. 1:17-cv-00732, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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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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