Gallup TCPA Lawsuit Filed as Potential Class Action in Calif. Federal Court

A Gallup TCPA lawsuit has recently been filed in California federal court as a potential class action.

The Gallup TCPA lawsuit alleges that the polling company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by placing an automatically dialed telephone call to a cell phone number listed in the Do Not Call Registry.

The TCPA was designed to help protect consumers from unwanted phone calls and gives them a choice on stating their call preferences. It prohibits the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (robocalls) and allows consumers to opt out of solicitation phone calls by signing up on the National Do Not Call Registry.

Plaintiff Jason Hartley states in the TCPA lawsuit that he added his cell phone number to the national Do Not Call Registry back in 2004. Despite his wishes to not have solicitation phone calls placed to his cell phone number, Hartley states that in November 2016, he received an incoming phone call where he was met with a “long pause” upon answering the call.

Hartley states that he was then connected to a worker from Gallup who claims to be representing Union Bank. He claims that this call was not only placed to him without his express prior consent for the call, it was also placed with the assistance of an automatic telephone dialing system, and a prerecorded or artificial voice was used, all of which violate the TCPA.

“Through this action, plaintiff suffered an invasion of his legally protected interest in privacy, which is specifically addressed and protected by the TCPA,” the Gallup TCPA lawsuit states. “Defendant’s call forces plaintiff in class members to live without the utility of plaintiff’s cell phone by forcing him to silence his cell phone and/or block incoming numbers.”

In his Gallup TCPA lawsuit, Hartley refers to a 2012 Seventh Circuit decision that detailed how automated phone calls to cell phone numbers add “expense to annoyance.” The plaintiff alleges he was “frustrated and distressed” about the call Gallup placed using an automatic telephone dialing system and stated that he also incurs charges for incoming calls to his cell phone.

The plaintiff is seeking to represent a nationwide Class of individuals who received a call from Gallup on their cell phone that was made using an automated telephone dialing system or that utilized a prerecorded or artificial message within the past four years from the date his suit was filed.

Hartley raises two claims in the Gallup TCPA lawsuit, including negligent violation of the TCPA and willful violation of the TCPA. He is seeking damages in the amount of $500 per each negligent violation and $1500 for each knowing and willful violation of the TCPA on behalf of himself and the proposed nationwide Class. It is estimated that the several thousand people or more may make up the proposed Class.

The Gallup TCPA Lawsuit is Hartley v. Gallup Inc., Case No. 3:17­-cv­-00768, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

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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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