Time Warner Must Pay $230K for 153 TCPA Violations

A Texas woman who sued Time Warner Cable for incessant robocalls last year has been awarded $1,500 per unsolicited phone call, totaling $229,500 in TCPA violation fines.

U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that each call Time Warner placed to the Texas woman between July 2013 and August 2014 constituted a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA). This federal act aims to curb robocalls and telemarketing abuses.

According to the Time Warner TCPA lawsuit, Araceli K. began receiving robocalls and harassing messages  in the summer of 2013. These messages were intended for someone else who had opened an account with New York-based Time Warner Cable using a phone number Araceli now held.

After receiving over 150 unsolicited phone calls to her cell phone, Araceli explained to a representative for the company that she was not the intended recipient and would like to be added to the company’s Do Not Call list.

Still, the unwanted cell phone calls, which were allegedly made through an automatic telephone dialing system for customers who were late paying bills, persisted. In March 2014, Araceli took legal action and filed a TCPA violations lawsuit seeking damages in the amount of $88,000, but the robocalls continued.

According to the TCPA violations lawsuit, Time Warner argued that it was not liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), because it believed it was contacting someone else who had previously consented to the robocalls.

However, Judge Hellerstein ruled that a “responsible business” would have tried to address the problem and determined the defendant harrassed the plaintiff with over 153 robocalls and ordered Time Warner to pay TCPA violation fines to Araceli at the rate of $1500 per unsolicited phone call, totaling to almost $230,000.

TCPA Violations and Robocalls

The TCPA was enacted in 1991 to protect consumers against solicitors and telemarketers (for both debt collection and telemarketing purposes). Some people even receive robocalls or calls using an automatic telephone dialing system when they have no prior business or contractual relationship with a company.  It is the main federal law that seeks to curb unsolicited phone calls using an automatic telephone dialing system.

Put simply, the TCPA bans many phone calls sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer. These robocalls are banned unless (1) you previously gave consent to receive the call or (2) the call is sent for emergency purposes. This ban applies even if you have not placed your phone number on the national Do-Not-Call list of numbers telemarketers must not call.

The TCPA law specifically states that each unsolicited phone call carries a violation fine of between $500 to $1,500 per call. Many of these calls are unwanted and unsolicited by the recipient.

If you received an automated call or unsolicited text message, you may be entitled to $500 to $1,500 per TCPA violation.

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.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now