State Farm Class Action Challenges Repeated Telemarketing Phone Calls

A class action lawsuit argues that State Farm made robocalls and ignored no-call registries to call people without their consent.

Allegedly, this was a company-wide practice that was a known violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, that shields individuals from bothersome telemarketing.

Plaintiff Patricia Settle says that she received phone calls from the insurance company, despite the fact that her phone number has been on the National Do Not Call Registry since about Oct. 15, 2014.

The State Farm class action lawsuit claims that Settle began receiving calls from State Farm on her cell phone in the spring of 2017. According to Settle, the phone calls she received were telemarketing calls, advertising insurance products.

The plaintiff alleges that she was never in business with State Farm, and never consented to have the company call her. She says that she “has been with her current insurance provider for decades and was not shopping for insurance of any kind,” nor had she ever provided the company with her number or given them permission to call her.

The State Farm robocalls class action lawsuit claims that the calls placed to Settle and others violated the TCPA, which prohibits businesses from contacting individuals without their consent, especially if they are on Do Not Call registries. The federal law also prohibits businesses from using autodialers and using pre-recorded messages.

Additionally, the State Farm class action states that the TCPA prohibits businesses from using such tactics to contact individuals to advertise products and services.

Allegedly, the company knew or should have known that they were violating the TCPA by contacting Settle and others via robocalls, but continued to violate the act nonetheless.

Settle argues that she received dozens of calls from State Farm in a 12 month period, and that the calls were made with an “artificial or pre-recorded voice,” and were always made with the intent of advertising insurance products to her.

According to Settle, the company knew that she had not consented to receive the calls, and continued to call her even after she requested that the calls stop.

The State Farm TCPA class action lawsuit says Settle’s experience was common to many people, because State Farm made a practice of placing widespread calls to many consumers even if the consumers had not consented to receive such calls.

Allegedly, the plaintiff was injured by these calls because they were bothersome, and decreased her enjoyment of her cell phone, data plan, and cell phone services, requiring her to either take the calls or ignore them, and preventing her from using the phone for other purposes.

“By making the telephone calls at issue in this complaint, defendant caused [Settle] and the members of a putative class of consumers actual harm, including the aggravation, nuisance, invasion of privacy that necessarily accompanies the receipt of unsolicited and harassing telephone calls, as well as the monies paid to their carriers for the receipt of such telephone calls,” the State Farm unwanted phone calls class action lawsuit states.

Settle is represented by Raymond Dieppe of Florida Legal LLC, and W. Craft Hughes and Jarrett L. Ellzey of Hughes Ellzey LLP.

The State Farm Advertising Phone Calls Class Action Lawsuit is Patricia Settle v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, Case No. 1:18-cv-24088, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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