ADT Sued in TCPA Lawsuit for Unsolicited Cellphone Calls

ADT Security Services has been named as defendant in a TCPA lawsuit by an Indiana consumer who alleges the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The TCPA is a federal law that protects telephone and cellphone consumers from being harassed by solicitors and companies seeking to get in contact with them. In addition to limiting how and when a company can contact an individual via phone calls, it also restricts companies from sending unsolicited text messages to consumers’ cell phones without prior express consent.

If a company is found to be in willful and knowing violation of the TCPA, they may be required to pay $1,500 for each TCPA violation.

Background on TCPA Lawsuit

Plaintiff Kenneth C., a resident of Indiana, filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on Nov. 14, 2014. In his bankruptcy claim, Kenneth listed a debt allegedly owed to ADT. A day after filing for bankruptcy, Kenneth took it upon himself to call ADT and personally inform a company representative that he had filed for bankruptcy in Indiana federal court. Kenneth provided pertinent information, such as his name, bankruptcy case number, and filing date, to the ADT representative.

It was during this call that Kenneth asked ADT to stop sending pre-recorded (or robocall) calls using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to his personal cell phone.

However, according to the TCPA lawsuit:

“ADT intentionally harassed and abused Plaintiff on numerous occasions by calling his cell phone several times during one day, and on back to back days, with such frequency as would reasonably be expected to harass. ADT attempted to collect a debt from Plaintiff by this harassing campaign of telephone calls.”

Kenneth further alleges that each of the calls he received from ADT were made using an automatic telephone dialing system and a prerecorded voice message, all alleged TCPA violations.

The ADT TCPA lawsuit claims the company did not have Kenneth’s prior express consent to place calls to his cellphone. Furthermore:

“any prior consent to place phone calls to Plaintiff’s cellular phone was revoked: (1) after the filing of the bankruptcy, both by operation of law through the automatic stay, and because the affirmative act of filing a bankruptcy constitutes sufficient notice that a consumer does not wish to be contacted directly by creditors, regarding alleged debts; and (2) after Plaintiff repeatedly made verbal requests to ADT to cease all phone calls.”

Despite Kenneth’s direct instructions to ADT to stop calling him and even after being informed of the plaintiff’s bankruptcy filing, ADT continued to place autodialed, unsolicited phone calls to the plaintiff’s cellphone using a TCPA-regulated dialing system. The TCPA lawsuit claims that ADT’s policy and procedure does not allow consumers like Kenneth to have their cell phone numbers to be removed from the company’s calling list. ADT has received similar TCPA complaints from several consumers besides Kenneth.

Kenneth is seeking statutory damages, injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees from ADT in this TCPA lawsuit.

The ADT TCPA Lawsuit is Case No. 1:15-cv-00877-TWP-DML, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

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.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now