Major Insurance Companies Face TCPA Lawsuit

Major Insurance Companies Face TCPA Lawsuit

By Robert J. Boumis

Five major insurers have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to protect U.S. consumers from telemarketers. The class action lawsuit names such recognizable insurance companies like Farmers, Geico, State Farm, and others. 

The text of the class action lawsuit rehashes the history of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA. Congress enacted the law in 1991 in response to pressure from constituents who felt harassed by various telemarketing practices. These practices included the use of “autodialers,” automated machines that systemically called large numbers of people with a pre-recorded message. The TCPA greatly limits the way that companies may contact customers. Subsequent laws and court rulings generally strengthened the TCPA, including a Declaratory Ruling issued by the Federal Communications Commission in 2008, which held that a company could only use automated calls if they received prior express consent from the person they were calling.

The TCPA lawsuit alleges that the insurance companies were involved in using an autodialer. In the alleged scheme, a pre-recorded message advised consumers to call back for an automotive insurance quote. If the consumer called back, they were treated to a pre-recorded message, which in turn connected them to a series of operators, eventually culminating in one working for State Farm agents. 

The TCPA lawsuit alleges that Variable Marketing Limited Liability Corporation ran an illegal telemarketing scheme on behalf of the various insurance agencies named in the lawsuit. Per the TCPA lawsuit, Variable acted on behalf of the other named defendants, committing willful violations of the TCPA, including using unsolicited pre-recorded calls, which subjected the plaintiffs to the cost of the incoming and outgoing calls. 

The class action lawsuit argues that the actions of Variable, acting on the behalf of various insurance companies violated the TCPA and subjected members of the class to harm in the form of cell phone fees. In addition to the costs of the phone call, the TCPA is designed in such a way that civil lawsuits like this one provide part of the enforcement of the Act. As such, the lawsuit seeks statutory damages, damages calculated based on a law (in this case the TCPA) instead of ones determined by the actual cost of the harm to the plaintiff. The text of the TCPA lawsuit alleges that Variable will likely continue to break the law if the action does not enforce the terms of the TCPA.

The TCPA lawsuit is formally titled Shawn Matejovich, et al. v. American Automobile Association Incorporated., et al., Case No. 1:13-cv-07149, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

If you’ve received unwanted communications from insurance companies, you may have a case. You can start to explore your options by visiting the Text Message Spam, Cell Phone Call TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation. Here, you can enter information about your situation for a review by a legal expert with a background in this type of litigation. The consultation is free of charge, and from it, you can receive specific guidance on the best steps to take in your exact situation.

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