TCPA Lawsuit Seeks Redress for Unwelcome Calls by Kohl’s

An excess of unwanted phone calls from Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. has spurred a TCPA lawsuit against the company by a woman from Pennsylvania.

Plaintiff Daisha E. says in her unwanted phone call lawsuit that around December 2013 she started receiving a large number of phone calls from Kohl’s about an account she had with the retailer.

She says she told Kohl’s on more than one occasion to stop calling her, but the store still they kept calling her number, allegedly using an autodialer.

She then had her attorney send Kohl’s two cease and desist letters, but the calls kept coming, she says in her TCPA lawsuit. Daisha says the calls were so harassing that she had to block the originating phone numbers and change the number of her mobile phone to avoid the calls.

Daisha says she did answer some of these phone calls. The first few times she answered, a live person was on the other end, and on those occasions she attempted to set up a payment plan. But other calls she answered yielded a prerecorded message, she says.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Daisha’s claims fall under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Congress enacted the TCPA in 1991 to give consumers some relief from unwanted telemarketing phone calls.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with enforcing the TCPA administratively. Current FCC rules under the TCPA forbid businesses from calling consumers without the consumers’ prior express written consent.

Even businesses with an “established business relationship” with a particular consumer must still get that consumer’s consent before calling.

Plaintiffs in a TCPA lawsuit do not necessarily have to prove any harm arose from the unwanted calls. The law provides for statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per unwanted call or text.

With damages so readily available, the misuse of automatic dialing equipment can quickly create a basis for a TCPA class action lawsuit. In August 2014, Capital One and three debt collection agencies settled a consolidated TCPA class action lawsuit for a total of over $75 million, based mainly on allegations that the companies had used automatic telephone dialing systems to make wholesale calls to consumers without their prior express consent.

Most recently, the FCC issued an order clarifying the restrictions on automated technology to reach consumers, whether by using automatic telephone dialing systems, prerecorded messages, or SMS text messaging.

The order increases consumer protection in a few ways. Consumers are now allowed to revoke their prior consent at any time and by any reasonable means.

The FCC is also now asserting TCPA jurisdiction over text messages sent from the Internet to phones, as well as over new technology that has similar capabilities as traditional automatic telephone dialing systems.

Daisha is asking the court for statutory damages of $500 for each negligent TCPA violation and $1,500 for each willful or knowing violation. She is also seeking an injunction prohibiting future similar phone calls from Kohl’s.

The TCPA Unwanted Phone Call Lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Case No. 4:15-cv-01086.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

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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