Progressive Financial Hit with Class Action Lawsuit Over Debt Collection Practices

Progressive Financial Hit with Class Action Lawsuit Over Debt Collection Practices

By Robert J. Boumis

An Arizona resident has filed a potential class action lawsuit against Progressive Financial Services Inc., alleging that the debt collection agency violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Plaintiff Denise Ortiz alleges in the class action lawsuit that Progressive Financial Services called her cell phone with a prerecorded or artificial voice, seeking repayment of a debt that she did not owe. According to the lawsuit, Ortiz never gave permission to the defendant, nor to the person they were seeking, to contact her on her cell phone. In fact, Ortiz says she has no relationship with the original creditor at all.

The class action lawsuit also asserts that Ortiz incurred a charge for the incoming call, which was allegedly placed through an automatic telephone dialing system or ATDS — a major violation of the TCPA. 

The TCPA was enacted by Congress to protect consumers from various forms of harassment at the hands of telemarketers. Congress created the law in recognition of the fact that changing technology allowed telemarketers to contact individuals in a number of ways, making it easy to send out undesired advertising by various technological means, including mass faxes and prerecorded auto-dialers. 

Ortiz alleges that others have faced similar pre-recorded or artificial calls from Progressive Financial Services, and that only the defendant’s records can show all of the people who received unwanted calls from the defendant, allegedly in violation of the TCPA. As a result, a class action lawsuit would be the best means to resolve the alleged violations.

Ortiz argues that a class action lawsuit is best means to pursue damages from the company. Without such a suit, she says, Progressive Financial Services will likely continue to violate the TCPA. She also argues that a class action lawsuit will induce the defendant to obey the TCPA and stop using pre-recorded calls. Additionally, fighting these violations through single lawsuits would not be economical for the court system, since much of the same evidence would be discovered in separate cases and individual rewards might not amount to much.

The proposed class action lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief and damages for negligent and knowing/willful violations of the TCPA. Violating the TCPA can carry penalties of $500 per negligent violation of the law and $1,500 for willing violations of the law.

The Progressive Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Denise Ortiz, et al. v. Progressive Financial Services Inc., Case No. 13-cv-01866, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Were you contacted on your cell phone by a debt collector or other company? Was the phone call made without your consent and/or with a prerecorded voice message? You may have a legal claim. Learn more and receive a free case review at the Text Message Spam, Cell Phone Call TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation.

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