It’s against the law for a company to contact you on your cell phone without your permission, or to record your phone call without warning you first.
Those lines are drawn in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits companies from secretly recording phone calls, from contacting people on their mobile phones by using an “automatic telephone dialing system” or using robo-calls with “an artificial or prerecorded voice,” or for sending text messages without prior consent.
CVS Pharmacy is facing a TCPA class action lawsuit filed last week in Illinois federal court alleging the company autodialed cell phone users with robo-advertising messages from blocked numbers. Those are alleged violations of the TCPA and Illinois’ Automatic Telephone Dialers Act (ATDA). Both have penalties of $500 per violation.
Plaintiffs Carl Lowe and Kearby Kaiser filed the TCPA lawsuit, saying CVS and its in-store MinuteClinic service violated the TCPA by autodialing cellphone numbers using prerecorded messages, and violated the Illinois Automatic Telephone Dialers Act by blocking its number from caller ID and making the calls without the recipients’ consent. The TCPA lawsuit alleges CVS made multiple automated calls to the plaintiffs without their consent, leaving messages urging them to visit a nearby store for flu shots and other services.
Violation of Privacy and Phone Rights
In the TCPA lawsuit, Lowe says that in October CVS called his phone and left a voicemail message alerting “Anna” that her prescription was ready, and offering flu shot services. But Lowe says that no one named Anna has access to his phone number. Lowe states this is not the first call from CVS for Anna. He says he went to his CVS store a year earlier and informed the pharmacist and another employee that CVS’s calls were going to the wrong person, and to stop calling him. While assured that this problem would be rectified, Lowe reported still receiving “Anna” calls.
In September, Kaiser allegedly received a call from an anonymous phone number that went to voice mail. The TCPA lawsuit says a prerecorded message was left stating CVS’s MinuteClinic was offering a 20 percent “shopping pass” for CVS store purchases with flu shots. He also claims he received similar calls in the past.
Neither Lowe nor Kaiser said they had consented to receive these auto-dialed calls. Lowe says his privacy was wrongfully invaded, and he has become frustrated dealing with repeated, unwanted phone calls using up time on his phone and taking his attention away from his business and other activities.
The TCPA class action lawsuit aims to establish three classes of call recipients, including a nationwide class and two Illinois classes, and seeks at least $500 in damages for each violation and an injunction forbidding CVS from making similar calls in the future.
The TCPA lawsuit is Carl Lowe and Kearby Kaiser v. CVS Pharmacy Inc. and MinuteClinic LLC, Case No: 1:14-cv-3687 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
History of the TCPA
Advancements in telephone dialing technology since the 1980s and 1990s made reaching a large number of consumers by telephone easier and more cost-effective. However, this technology also brought with it an onslaught of unsolicited robocalls, spam text messages, and junk faxes that intrude on individual privacy and waste consumer time and money. To stop this, Congress passed the TCPA. Additionally, various states enacted their own consumer protection laws.
Violating the TCPA can carry a $500 fine per violation. Cell phone subscribers who can prove the TCPA violation was intentional can sue for up to $1,500 every time a company unlawfully contacted them.
Millions of dollars in TCPA class action lawsuit settlements have been awarded to consumers over the past few years, and the number of companies facing TCPA class action lawsuits continues to grow.
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. Learn more and see if you qualify for a legal claim at the Text Message Spam, Unwanted Cell Phone Calls TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation.
8 thoughts onCVS Target of TCPA Lawsuit Over Robo-calls
Day after Day. They call at 5:20 am and through the day I’m sick of it and keep calling
Add me. I get calls and text from CVS about other people’s meds are ready to pick up. I have text that not only have the persons name but shows her address as well. It shows type of meds and dosage. Thought we have hippa laws about this. I shouldn’t know what someone else’s meds are. I have let CVS know wrong number but still get unwanted calls, voice mail, and text.
Ever occur to you people to just block calls from Unknown or Blocked numbers??
I maintain that tracking my prescription use for refill reminders is not a legitimate use of private medical information under HIPAA, without explicit prior permission by the patient, and that the patient may never be opted in by default. Moreover, their payment terminals present a screen to verify your phone number and will not permit the payment to proceed without consenting to receive these calls AND marketing calls. I am fed up with telling them that I do NOT give consent for these calls.
Yes–this just happened to me. While picking up a prescription, I went on auto in answering their list of questions. They count on us doing that–I answered “yes” to promos and god knows what else coming to my phone. The other option was not “no” but to received a print-out of information. I don’t have enough vulgar terms in my vocabulary to express how I feel about this, especially since I’ve now started getting all kinds of spam BS on my phone. I’ve had this number for 7 years and don’t want to change it. Eff CVS to death.
For 7 months, I have been receiving phone calls from a local CVS Pharmacy saying that a prescription is ready for Anna. (Sounds like Ahna). That pharmacy tells me that the calls are coming from Corporate CVS, even though caller ID shows that stores number. I have had 5 calls in the past 36 hours. How can I stop these calls to my cell phone?
CVS also contacted my provider requesting a prescription renewal – without my consent. I did not request a renewal.
CVS.LEFT MANY MESSAGES ON MY CELL PHONE.WITH A ROBOT MESSAGE TELLING ME MY PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE READ . BENSALEM PA, CVS.