DPPA Class Action Says Motor Vehicle Records Sold to Direct Marketers

A Texas man has filed another class action lawsuit in a series of claims under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, this time against two direct marketers and a car dealership.

Plaintiff Arthur Lopez claims the defendants unlawfully obtained, re-sold or re-disclosed his state motor vehicle records, all in violation of the federal DPPA.

Lopez says defendant Monica Braverman is in the business of obtaining driver’s information from many different states’ motor vehicle departments, then she resells it for direct marketing use.

The DPPA class action lawsuit says Braverman acquired Lopez’s motor vehicle records, without his consent and for the purpose of using those records for direct marketing.

Braverman then allegedly re-sold or re-disclosed those records to defendant BB Direct, who passed it along to TaCito & Associates. From there it was sold to defendant Don Herring Ltd., a Texas car dealership, according to the lawsuit.

Lopez says that in May 2016 he received direct marketing via mail from Don Herring, signaling to him that information from his state vehicle records had been disclosed. Further inquiry revealed that Don Herring had obtained Lopez’s information from TaCito & Associates, Lopez alleges.

TaCito told Lopez it acquired his information from BB Direct, he claims, which later told Lopez it had gotten the information from Braverman.

The alleged disclosures put Lopez at a material risk of “future identity theft, fraud, and swindles,” he claims.

He also says the disclosures create “a security risk of bodily injury and harm” should the disclosed information fall into the hands of anyone who wished to do harm to Lopez or his family.

The DPPA limits the ways in which the personal information in an individual’s vehicle records can be disclosed and re-disclosed.

According to Lopez, Congress passed the DPPA in 1994 in response to increasing concerns about how the availability of motor vehicle records as public records could threaten individuals’ privacy.

While Congress’ rationale for passing the DPPA was initially based heavily on concerns about stalking, it later considered how the commercial value of drivers’ vehicle records could create an incentive for marketing businesses to misuse that personal information.

Amendments to the DPPA in 1999 added restrictions on the sale of information obtained from vehicle records.

Today, the DPPA bars disclosure for all purposes except for fourteen enumerated exceptions – none of which apply to the disclosures alleged in this DPPA class action lawsuit, Lopez claims.

Persons whose information was improperly disclosed or re-disclosed under the DPPA can sue for minimum damages of $2,500, punitive damages and attorney’s fees, Lopez says.

Lopez’s new DPPA class action lawsuit echoes two others he filed earlier this year – one against Cross-Sell LLC and the other against National Recall & Data Services. Both of those claims allege the improperly-obtained information was then sold to defendant North American Vehicle Insurance Specialists or one of its affiliates.

In this class action lawsuit, Lopez proposes to represent a nationwide Class that would include all persons whose state vehicle records were obtained by one of the defendants within four years prior to the filing of this DPPA class action lawsuit, without the Class Member’s consent and for direct marketing purposes.

He seeks an injunction prohibiting the defendants from continuing the contested actions and requiring them to destroy all vehicle records collected in the course of those actions. He also seeks an award of damages, restitution, court costs and attorneys’ fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest.

Lopez is represented by attorney Joseph H. Malley of the Law Offices of Joseph H. Malley PC.

The DPPA Class Action Lawsuit is Lopez v. Don Herring Ltd., et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-02663, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.