Woman Says Comenity Bank Robocalls Violate Federal Law

A plaintiff has filed a TCPA lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court against Comenity Bank, accusing the bank of violating federal anti-telemarketing laws.

The plaintiff is Renee B., who says she received Comenity Bank robocalls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

According to the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, the TCPA was enacted in 1991 to “address a growing number of telephone marketing calls.” The FCC states, “the TCPA restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems and artificial or prerecorded voice messages.”

The Comenity Bank robocalls lawsuit says that plaintiff Renee was allegedly harmed in the number of calls that the defendant had made to her cellular phone. According to the lawsuit, “defendant’s phone calls harmed plaintiff by causing the very harm that Congress sought to prevent- a ‘nuisance and invasion of privacy.’”

The phone calls were allegedly made via an automatic telephone dialing system, or artificial or prerecorded voice.

According to the Comenity Bank robocalls lawsuit, Renee had initially provided consent for contact by Comenity using the automatic telephone dialing system and artificial voice or prerecorded voice. The alleged consent was also provided though a provision in a credit card agreement.

But on Nov. 8, 2016, Renee says, she contacted Comenity and specifically advised the financial institution that she “no longer wished to receive any phone calls regarding any account.”

Nevertheless, she continued to receive telephone calls despite the rescinded prior expressed consent.

Thus, the Comenity Bank robocalls lawsuit contends that the calls made to the plaintiff by the defendant entitles her “to an award of $500.00 in statutory damages for each and every call defendant caused to be made to plaintiff’s cellular telephone number.” For each call that the court finds were made “willfully and/or knowingly,” she is asking the court to increase the award to up to $1,500.00 per telephone call.

Comenity Bank Robocalls

Robocalls include prerecorded telephone calls, prerecorded text messages, and autodialed calls to cell phones. The FCC says complaints of robocalls, telemarketing calls, and unwanted calls, are some of their most frequently received complaints.

Under FCC rules, calls to one’s home must be made between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., and any indication made to a telemarketer from a consumer that requests that they become placed on a do-not-call-list must be complied with immediately.

Moreover, the FCC states that “[y]our written or oral consent is required for ALL autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts made to your wireless number.”

Rights protecting consumers against violations of the TCPA include and are not limited to the following: 1) non-emergency calls must be made with prior expressed and written consumer consent to their wireless phones; 2) Urgent calls, such as ones made for fraud or health alerts, do not require a prior expressed consent; 3) Consumer’s may rescind their prior expressed consent at any time; and 4) text messages follow the same TCPA and FCC regulation protection.

The Comenity Bank Robocalls Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-01121, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

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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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