Citibank TCPA Lawsuit Alleges Hundreds of Unwanted Phone Calls

A Citibank TCPA lawsuit was filed in Florida federal court by a plaintiff who alleges that the bank violated federal law by illegally placing robocalls to her cell phone.

The TCPA is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and it was enacted in 1991. The most commonly known provision of this act was the establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry where citizens can sign up to ensure they are not contacted by telemarketers without their consent.

Additionally, TCPA also limits the use of automatic dialing systems, voice messages that are artificial or prerecorded, SMS text messages and faxes. Many solicitation activities are prohibited under this Act unless the individual expressly consents to receiving such communication.

Plaintiff Sharon B. is seeking damages in excess of $75,000, exclusive of attorney fees and costs, according to the Citibank TCPA Lawsuit. She states that Citibank called her on her cellular telephone “hundreds of times in an attempt to collect an alleged debt.” These calls were placed by an automatic telephone dialing system, she claims.

Sharon states that she knew that she was being called by an automatic telephone dialing system “because she heard a pause when she answered her telephone before a voice came on the line and she received prerecorded messages from Defendant.”

Despite asking them to cease calls to her cell phone, Sharon states that she continued to receive these calls over a four-year period. In August 2016, Sharon states that she spoke to a customer service representative on the phone and informed the agent that the calls that were being placed to her cell phone were harassing and demanded those calls stop immediately.

The following month, she asked the calls to stop immediately by phone once again, but those calls “were in vain as Defendant continued to bombard her with automated calls unabated.”

The Citibank TCPA lawsuit states, “Defendant intentionally harassed and abused Plaintiff on numerous occasions by calling several times during one day, and on back-to-back days, with such frequency as can reasonably be expected to harass.” The lawsuit goes on to state that a number of complaints have already been filed against Citibank for this very reason.

In addition to having the corporate policy that did not allow Sharon to remove her number from the call list, the Citibank TCPA lawsuit states that “Defendant has a corporate policy to harass and abuse individuals despite actual knowledge the called parties do not wish to be called“ and that “Defendant willfully and/or knowingly violated the TCPA with respect to Plaintiff.”

The plaintiff has also alleged a violation of the FCCPA, a Florida statute that parallels the guidelines set forth in the federal law.

Sharon is seeking a trial by jury and judgment against the defendants “for statutory damages, punitive damages, actual damages, costs, interest, attorney fees, enjoinder from further violations of these parts and any other such relief the court made deem just and proper.”

The Citibank TCPA Lawsuit is Case No. 8:17-cc-02795-EAK-AAS, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.

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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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