Re/Max Class Action Says Cold Calling Violates TCPA

A class action lawsuit says that Re/Max LLC violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by calling home owners without their consent.

The Re/Max TCPA class action lawsuit was filed by Daniel D. Clements and Sam Tuli. They claim that they received repeated telemarketing calls after their respective property listings were withdrawn from the Multiple Listing Service, because the listings expired, were canceled, or were withdrawn for other reasons.

The two homeowners say that Re/Max has sent similar calls to other homeowners with expired listings, and aim to represent themselves and all other similarly affected customers. Allegedly, these messages were sent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The Re/Max expired listings calls class action says that Re/Max’s practice is part of a “troubling trend” in the real estate industry.

Allegedly, Re/Max directs its realtors to violate the TCPA, or at least allows realtors to violate the TCPA by mining phone numbers from expired property listings and cold calling home owners without their consent.

To support their claim that Re/Max is aware of the cold calling trend and ratifies, the customers claim that Re/Max provides Landvoice to its realtors — a tool used to farm phone numbers. Allegedly, Landvoice uses technology to harvest owner names and phone numbers from expired listings.

The customers point to Landvoice’s own advertising, which says that Landvoice delivers “the highest quality and quantity of owner contact information including cell phone numbers.” Allegedly, courses for realtors provided by Re/Max also direct realtors to use this technology.

The customers’ Re/Max TCPA class action lawsuit also says that Re/Max teaches realtors that cold calling leads to sales. However, telemarketing that has not been consented to by the recipient is illegal, says the TCPA class action lawsuit. Allegedly, the home owners cold called by Re/Max through the use of expired listings largely did not consent to receive the calls.

The Re/Max class action lawsuit says that these calls are often made using an autodialer. Allegedly, the calls are often made to numbers on the Do Not Call registry — allegedly, both of these elements represent violations of the TCPA.

The customers claim that Re/Max knew or should have known that these calls are prohibited by the TCPA, because they are central to the company’s advertisements, and the company has a vested interest in these calls.

Allegedly, the company knowingly violated the TCPA, causing customers injury including intrusion on seclusion, invasion of privacy, irritation, and annoyance. Additionally, the customers say that they were financially injured because the calls took up use of their cell phones and data plans, among other injuries.

Did you receive an unsolicited call from Re/Max after unlisting your property online? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Daniel DeClements and Sam Tuli are represented by  Nathan Brown, Stefan Coleman of the Law Offices of Stefan Coleman PA, and Avi. R. Kaufman of Kaufman PA.

The Re/Max TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is DeClements, et al. v. Re/Max LLC, Case No. 2:19-cv-05476-NVW, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

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