Nissan Cell Phone Debt Collection Class Action Lawsuit Launched

Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., the financing unit of Nissan Corp., is one of hundreds of companies that utilizes automatic dialing services to call creditors in the attempt to collect debt payments. That practice spurred the filing of a class action lawsuit Monday.

Lead Plaintiff Candida Wolcott accuses the finance company of repeatedly calling her, in violation of the California Consumer Protection Act, after she told a representative that she did not wish to be contacted via telephone.

In her class action lawsuit, Wolcott claims that she received a call to her cell phone on April 1, and demanded that the NMAC unit cease calling her on that number. On the same day, Wolcott was contacted via an automatic telephone dialing system using an “automated or prerecorded voice” which advised Wolcott that all agents were busy, and she should hold the line and wait for an agent to assist her. The next day, Wolcott’s attorneys sent a cease and desist letter to NMAC, demanding that the company cease contacting her at that phone number, invoking the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Despite the two requests, Wolcott claims in her class action lawsuit, on April 8, she again received an automated telephone call from NMAC.

“The TCPA was designed to prevent calls like the ones described within this complaint, and to protect the privacy of citizens like [Wolcott],” the class action lawsuit reads. “‘Voluminous consumer complaints about the abuses of telephone technology — for example, computerized calls dispatched to private homes — prompted Congress to pass the TCPA.’ In enacting the TCPA, Congress intended to give consumers a choice as to how creditors and telemarketers may call them, and made specific findings that ‘[t]echnologies that might allow consumers to avoid receiving such calls are not universally available, are costly, and are unlikely to be enforced, or place an inordinate burden on the consumer.'”

While collections calls might imply a previously-given consent to call, argues the class action lawsuit, collections calls can be viewed in the same manner as any other unwanted phone calls when interpreting the TCPA. “Congress also specifically found that ‘evidence presented to the Congress indicates that automated or prerecorded calls are a nuisance and an invasion of privacy, regardless of the type of call,'” reads the complaint, which goes on to say that Nissan’s NMAC unit erred in failing to understand that Wolcott was “expressly revoking any consent that may have been in place to receive calls via an automatic telephone dialing system and/or using an artificial or prerecorded voice” when she asked a representative to have the company cease its calls.

The Nissan class action lawsuit is seeking damages under the TCPA and injunctive relief against the company for all other class members similarly situated.

Wolcott is represented by Assal Assassi of Kazerouni Law Group APC, Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart, Jared M. Hartman of Hartman Law Office Inc. and Babak Semnar of Semnar Law Firm.

The Nissan Unwanted Telephone Collections Calls Class Action Lawsuit case is Candida Wolcott v. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., Case No. 5:14-cv-00780, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

What To Do

If you received an unwanted automated call to your cell phone, it could be a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and you could be eligible for compensation. To find out more, visit Text Message Spam, Unwanted Cell Phone Calls TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation and enter your information in the brief form. If you are eligible, you could be contacted by an attorney who specializes in TCPA litigation.