Unwanted Calls Lead to Commonwealth Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit

A San Francisco man says Commonwealth Financial Systems Inc. made multiple calls to his mobile phone, in violation of the TCPA.

Plaintiff Ryan M. alleges Commonwealth Financial called him twice on his mobile phone in February 2016, using either an autodialer or a prerecorded announcement.

He says that when he answered the calls, he heard a prerecorded message play before a live person began speaking. Ryan argues the use of the prerecorded message was evidence that the defendant used an autodialer to call him.

Ryan says he never gave Commonwealth Financial consent, whether in writing or otherwise, to contact him in that manner. In fact, he claims he never had contact with the defendant prior to those two phone calls.

He claims he asked the defendant to stop making these calls, but the calls still kept coming.

Apparently, Ryan is not the only person to have received multiple calls like these from the defendant.

In his Commonwealth Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit, Ryan quotes several complaints lodged in Internet forums by persons who say they were subject to repeated and unwanted phone calls from the same number that originated the calls to Ryan’s mobile phone.

Some of these online reviewers report receiving daily calls from the defendant’s phone number, sometimes several times in a single day.

At least one reviewer claims the calls keep coming even after she asked the company to stop calling and explained she is not the person they are trying to reach.

Commonwealth Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Allegations

Ryan now argues these calls violate the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA.

According to his Commonwealth Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit, the TCPA was enacted in 1991 to curb the growing practice of intrusive telemarketing phone calls.

In particular, the TCPA restricts calls made using an automated dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice.

These restricted calls may be allowed if the caller has the called party’s consent, Ryan says.

However, according to rulings promulgated by the FCC, the called party must give that consent in “a clear, unambiguous, and conspicuous written disclosure.”

Ryan claims Commonwealth Financial never got such prior express consent from him or from any of the proposed Class Members.

Ryan is proposing to represent two Classes of plaintiffs consisting of persons in the U.S. who within four years prior to the filing of his claim received a non-emergency call from Commonwealth Financial and for whom Commonwealth Financial has no record of their prior express written consent to be called that way.

One Class, the “Robocall” Class, would consist of those Class Members who received such calls that were made using an automated voice or prerecorded message.

The other Class, the “Autodialer” Class, would encompass those whose received calls made using an autodialer.

Both Class definitions cover calls made to mobile phones and land lines.

The Commonwealth Financial TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Muehe v. Commonwealth Financial Systems Inc., Case No. 4:16-cv-03764, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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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