Harassing Phone Calls From Verizon Wireless Prompt TCPA Lawsuit

After allegedly receiving harassing phone calls from Verizon Wireless, a consumer has filed a lawsuit against the cellular provider claiming that the calls violated the TCPA.

Plaintiffs Borish J. and Jowonna E. recently filed a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless Personal Communications LP and MRS Associates Inc., alleging that they received harassing phone calls from Verizon Wireless in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed to prevent harassing phone calls and to control the usage of autodialing systems which make harassing calls possible. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “Unwanted calls and texts are the number one complaint to the FCC. There are thousands of complaints to the FCC every month on both telemarketing and robocalls. The FCC received more than 215,000 TCPA complaints in 2014.”

Harassing Phone Calls from Verizon Wireless

Borish and Jowonna allegedly received over 100 harassing phone calls from Verizon Wireless and 50 harassing phone calls from MRS in an attempt to collect on a debt belonging to a “Natalie C.”, a person the plaintiffs say they don’t even know. The plaintiffs argue that Verizon and MRS called them with the express intention to harass them into paying the debt. The companies allegedly called several times during a single day on back-to-back days.

Borish ended up speaking to a Verizon representative in March 2018 and informed them that they had the wrong number and should not continue to call the number. Shortly after this call, he allegedly continued to receive calls and spoke again to a representative. Despite these two conversations where he allegedly told them to stop calling, Borish continued to receive harassing phone calls from Verizon Wireless. He allegedly had similar conversations with MRS, but the calls continued.

“Verizon and MRS have corporate policies structured as to continue to call individuals like the Plaintiffs, despite these individuals explaining to Verizon and MRS they wish for the calls to stop,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit argues that the harassing phone calls from Verizon Wireless and MRS were placed using an automatic dialing system. These devices have the capacity to produce and store numbers to be called in random order using an artificial or prerecorded voice. The plaintiffs argue that the companies had to be using an autodialing system based on the frequency and volume of calls.

“Each and every call placed without express consent by Verizon and MRS to Plaintiffs’ cell phone resulted in the injury of a trespass to Plaintiffs’ chattel, namely their cellular phone and their cellular phone services,” the TCPA lawsuit claims. “As a result of the calls described above, Plaintiffs suffered an invasion of privacy. Borish and Jowonna were also affected in a personal and individualized way by stress, anxiety, and aggravation.”

Plaintiffs accuse both Verizon Wireless and MRS of violating several consumer protection laws including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Florida Consumer Collection Protection Act (FCCPA). They also accuse MRS of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The lawsuit seeks statutory damages, punitive damages, actual damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The Verizon TCPA Lawsuit is Case No. 4:18-cv-00168-WTM-GRS in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

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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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