Discover Financial Services Lawsuit Alleges Robocalls to Cell Phone Violated TCPA

A man has filed a Discover Financial Services lawsuit alleging the company made numerous unwanted calls to his cell phone number.

Plaintiff Fred H. alleges Discover violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when they robocalled him 20 times, allegedly in attempts to collect a consumer debt. Discover also is accused of violating the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act and Invasion of Privacy.

The Discover Financial Services lawsuit alleges, “Discover Financial Services, LLC has a corporate policy to robocall people thousands of times.”

Consumer Protection and the TCPA

Congress enacted the TCPA because automated calls with a robotic or pre-recorded voice were determined to be a nuisance and an invasion of privacy. The TCPA requires that a business obtain express consent from a consumer before the business may legally call the consumer on their cell phone.

The TCPA also restricts companies from using an automatic telephone dialing system to call someone’s cell phone without express consent to do so.

Fred says he never gave Discover express consent to call him on his cell phone or to use an automatic telephone dialing system to reach him.

Discover Financial Services Lawsuit Allegations

In August 2017, Fred says he began receiving calls from Discover asking to speak to someone named Tony Strange. Fred said he was not Tony Strange and that he did not know anyone by that name. At that time, his Discover Financial Services lawsuit claims, Fred asked Discover to stop calling him.

“Despite actual knowledge of their wrongdoing, the defendant continued the campaign of abusive robocalls,” alleges the Discover Financial Services lawsuit.

In addition to wasting his time, Fred says he was charged for the unwanted calls. The Discover robocalls also depleted the battery life of his cell phone and used minutes allocated to Fred by his cell phone service provider.

Fred’s Discover Financial Services lawsuit says that even though the company knew it was violating the law, the allure of making money was too great an incentive. And Fred is not alone is suffering Discover Financial calls.

The TCPA bans the unconsented use of autodialing systems that dial sequenced random numbers, and companies are required to honor a customer’s request to stop making unwanted calls. According to the Discover Financial Services lawsuit, Fred repeatedly asked Discover to stop calling his cell phone, but the company continued to do so anyway.

Discover’s “aggravating and annoying phone calls trespassed upon and interfered with” his rights and his cell phone by intruding upon his seclusion, alleges Fred’s lawsuit.

In addition, Discover’s corporate policy and procedures didn’t provide an effective means for Fred to have his cell phone number removed from the company’s call list.

Fred seeks a minimum of $500 in damages for each violation of the TCPA because he says he never gave Discover permission to call his cell via robocall or otherwise.

The Discover Financial Services Lawsuit is Case No. 8:18-cv-02428-CEH-CPT 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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