Blue Star Cruises Class Action Says Company Violated Telemarketing Laws

Blue Star Cruises and Grand Celebration Cruises have been ignoring consumers’ requests to be stricken from their telemarketing call lists, according to two plaintiffs in a new anti-telemarketing class action lawsuit.

Plaintiffs Leshia Baxter and Arthur Keshishyan both say they received unwelcome telemarketing phone calls from defendants Blue Star Cruises and Grand Celebration Cruises after making it clear they did not want to receive such calls. They allege these calls were placed in violation of federal anti-telemarketing law.

The two plaintiffs are bringing claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA. This law places many restrictions on the ways in which telemarketers can make unsolicited calls to consumers.

The National Do Not Call Registry was created under TCPA authority. Persons who do not wish to receive unsolicited telemarketing calls can list their number on this registry. Telemarketers then have 30 days to stop making telemarketing calls to that number.

Baxter says her mobile phone number has been listed with the National Do Not Call Registry since 2004. She says she began receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls from Blue Star Cruises at that number in December 2016.

She reports these calls were made using an artificial or prerecorded voice. The recorded announcement was apparently scripted to give the impression that it was being delivered by a live operator: Baxter says the announcement began with the words, “Hello, oh, hi there! …Oh, I am so sorry about that – I was, um … having a little problem with my headset. Anyway, my name is Emily and I’m calling because …”

Baxter says she hung up and blocked the number. But in March 2017, she received another call from Blue Star Cruises, calling from a different number but using the same prerecorded message.

Keshishyan reports a similar experience receiving calls from Blue Star Cruises on his landline, which he says has been on the National Do Not Call Registry since 2006.

After listening to the same prerecorded message that Baxter heard, Keshishyan says he got a live representative on the line and told her that his number was on the registry and that Blue Star Cruises should not call him again. Nevertheless, the defendants allegedly called him again – once before the end of February and again in April.

Baxter and Keshishyan propose to represent four plaintiff Classes:

• The Cellular Telephone Prerecorded No Consent Class would cover all U.S. persons who over the last four years were called by defendants Blue Star Cruises or Grand Celebration Cruises on their cellular phone for marketing purposes, using a prerecorded voice, and from whom the defendants claim to have obtained prior express written consent to place such calls.
• The Landline Telephone Prerecorded No Consent Class would cover all U.S. persons who received calls under similar circumstances, only on a landline instead of a cell line.
• The Landline Telephone Prerecorded Stop Class would cover those who received such calls after telling the defendants they did not want to receive calls from them.
• The Do Not Call Registry Class would cover all U.S. persons who received calls on their cellular phones from the defendants within any 12-month period where the cell phone number had been listed on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least 30 days, and from whom the defendants claim to have obtained prior express written consent to place such calls.

Baxter and Keshishyan are seeking an award of damages, declaratory relief, disgorgement of any ill-gotten gains, and an injunction requiring Blue Star Cruises and Grand Celebration Cruises to cease the activities complained of here.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Stefan Coleman and Blake J. Dugger of Law Offices of Stefan Coleman PA.

The Blue Star Cruises Unlawful Telemarketing Class Action Lawsuit is Leshia Baxter and Arthur Keshishyan v. Grand Celebration Cruises LLC and Blue Star Cruises LLC, Case No. 8:17-cv-01718, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

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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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