Is American Airlines in Violation of California Privacy Law?

Certain business that record customer phone calls may be in violation of California privacy law.

The applicable California privacy law is sometimes referred to as the California wiretapping law. It stipulates that all parties to a telephone conversation must give their permission to have that call recorded.

In addition to the California privacy law, there are about eleven states that have what are known as “two-party” consent laws. Although called two-party, they really are all-party laws in that every person or entity that’s part of the phone call or public conversation (where there should be reasonable expectation of not being heard or recorded) needs to permit recording.

Violations of the California privacy law are litigated more often in that state than in other states with two-party consent laws. The reasons for this could be because California has a long history of working to support and protect the rights and privacy of its citizenry, particularly in the face of ever-changing technology. Residents may be generally more informed of these rights because of this history.

The Pre-recorded Caveat and Implied Consent

Most businesses are aware of California privacy law and the two-party consent laws of other participating states. These laws are the origin of pre-recorded caveats on customer services lines that indicate “this phone call may be recorded for quality-control purposes.”

An outbound, prerecorded notice like this covers the company’s obligations under the California privacy by creating what’s known as implied consent. When a caller hears the pre-recorded message with its warning and choose to stay on the line, that customer’s permission to record the call has been granted by their lack of action in terminating the call.

Violations of California Privacy Law and Its Consequences

According to California privacy law, the failure to get express of implied permissions of all parties to a phone call, whether it is an inbound or outbound, can come with some heavy consequences.

Statutorily, each violation can be assessed a fine of $5,000 each or, if actual damages are proven, up to three times that amount. Infractions can really add up when litigated in class action lawsuits, where citizens conjoin their legal complaints together against a company to make maximum impact and discourage future invasions of privacy.

Companies Currently Under Investigation

A class action investigation is looking into call recording practices at several companies, including American Airlines. Calls to American Airlines customer service lines like the lost baggage, cancelled flight, or emergency information lines could be recorded without giving proper notice to the customer

In addition to American Airlines with their lost baggage, cancelled flight, and emergency information lines, there are other companies that may be neglecting getting the necessary express or implied permissions before recording phone calls.

Call recording practices at AMF Bowling, Baja Fresh, British Airways, Czech Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Miele, Pei Wei Asian Diner, TGI Friday’s, and 99 Cents Only Stores all fall within this investigation.

Join a FREE California Call Recording Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you live in California and you did not receive a warning when calling a toll-free number, your call may have been recorded in violation of California law, and you may be entitled to compensation. See if you qualify to file a California call recording class action lawsuit.

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