My Pillow Inc. is facing illegal call recording allegations from a California man stating that his conversations with customer service representatives had been recorded without his consent.

The man alleges the Minnesota-based company had violated California privacy laws by conducting this allegedly illegal call recording, and that his privacy rights as a California resident had been violated.

Plaintiff Richard W. recently filed this California call recording lawsuit, which alleges the company regularly conducted this allegedly illegal call recording on him and other consumers.

Richard states that even though My Pillow Inc. is based in Minnesota, the company had to disclose potential call recording to him because he is a resident of California. According to the California call recording lawsuit, Richard claims that My Pillow had recorded and monitors phone calls without consumers’ consent.

Richard states that he had called the My Pillow customer service line on two occasion, once to inquire about sale prices and pillow sizes, and a second time to place an order in January 2018. Richard had reportedly discovered the allegedly illegal call recording in a followup call he made to the company, in which he asked if his calls had been recorded.

Richard was then told the calls were recorded, which spurred him to file legal actions against the company. Richard claims that at no point during the two earlier phone calls was he given any notice or disclosures regarding potential call recording.

Overview of Illegal Call Recording Allegations

Under California call recording laws, all parties involved in a conversation must give their consent before any part of the conversation can be legally recorded.

This means there is little exception in which consent is required for call recording to be considered legal. California call recording laws can apply not only to California residents but also to companies that conduct business in the state.

My Pillow and other companies often have a designated customer service line that is set up to place and accept calls from consumers. California law requires that if these calls are to be recorded, a disclosure regarding the call recording must be given at some point during the call.

This is typically done at the beginning of the call, with consumers asked to stay on the line or push a button on the dial pad to give consent. It is important to note that if a consumer then stays on the line, it is considered implied consent in the state of California.

Companies that do not provide this notice could be engaging in illegal call recording, which under California law could lead to penalties up to $5,000 per violation or three times the amount of damages suffered. Several companies have reportedly already reached multimillion dollar settlements, to resolve allegations of illegal call recording.

Richard alleges that My Pillow had intentionally conducted the illegal call recording, knowing that it violated privacy laws in certain states. Richard is filing this California call recording lawsuit on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, and is requesting a trial by jury.

Furthermore, Richard is seeking class certification and is seeking to certify himself as the lead plaintiff in this claim.

This California Illegal Call Recording Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-003658, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.