Cox TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Ends in $10.8 Million Settlement

Cox Communications recently settled a TCPA class action lawsuit for nearly $11 million dollars. The company was alleged to have used an autodialer to call people who had not consented to that type of contact, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA).

After reaching an agreement in principal in May, the parties submitted the details of the settlement for court approval on June 18. Plaintiff’s counsel notes that the settlement amount is on the higher end of the range of TCPA class action settlements. Due to the size of the settlement, it is expected that each qualifying Class Member may receive around $100 to $300.

The Cox Communications TCPA class action lawsuit had been hotly contested for two years after being filed in March 2017 by plaintiff Joanne Knapper. Knapper claims that in an attempt to collect a debt, Cox placed autodialed calls to her cell phone on 17 separate dates in 2015 and 2016.

Due to the “frequency, number, nature, and character of the calls at issue,” Knapper says, she figured out that Cox was using an automatic telephone dialing system–exactly the kind of equipment that is regulated under the TCPA. Robocalls placed using an autodialer can violate the TCPA if the person who receives the call has not consented to be contacted that way.

Knapper says she never gave Cox consent to call her with an autodialer. What’s more, she alleges she has never even been a Cox customer. Cox apparently called her number by mistake while trying to reach someone else, according to her complaint. She assumes this was because her number had been previously held by a former Cox customer.

An attempt by Cox to stall the lawsuit failed in January. Cox argued that the litigation should be paused while the Federal Communications Commission worked out details about what sort of equipment does and does not constitute an autodialer. But U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan disagreed, determining that he had all the guidance he needed in a Ninth Circuit opinion from September 2018.

As certified by the court in February, the plaintiff Class covers tens of thousands of people and businesses who were not Cox subscribers but who nevertheless received autodialed calls from Cox on their cell phones in an attempt to collect a debt between March 28, 2013 and Feb. 6, 2019. A hearing to make a final determination on the fairness of the settlement is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Despite having agreed to the settlement, Cox still insists that it calls only consumers who have consented to being contacted via autodialer.

What is the TCPA?

The TCPA became effective in 1991 because of enormous growth in telemarketing calls and spam faxes. According to Twilio, these calls and faxes were becoming harassing to U.S. citizens and were, to date, unregulated by the federal government. Under the stipulations of TCPA, the use of pre-recorded messages, autodialing equipment, SMS, and fax use are severely limited.

The TCPA requires companies to honor the National Do Not Call Registry—a list of consumers with their associated landline and cell phone numbers who expressly do not wish to be recipients of telephone marketing outreach of any kind. For those corporations that fail to adhere to either the restricted use of said equipment or the guidelines of the National Do Not Call Registry, the TCPA grants legal recourse to sue. The Cox Communications class action lawsuit is one of those efforts to demand adherence.

What is an Autodialer or Robocall?

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FCC), a robocall can easily be identified by the consumer when they pick up the phone. If a recorded message is heard in lieu of a live person on the other end of the line, it is a robocall. As indicated on their webpage, the FCC claims that internet-based telephone systems have lowered the barriers that once existed to making robocalls from anywhere in the world—namely prohibitive cost and difficulty making adequate connection.

While this lawsuit was filed through the initiative of an educated consumer, the FCC says that they have registered at least 100 complaints against 600 different companies which have failed to follow the stipulations of the TCPA with regard to autodialers and robocalls. Additionally, the Commission is seeking innovative technological solutions to address the ever-growing problem.

The Cox TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Knapper v. Cox Communications Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-00913, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

UPDATE: October 2019, the Cox robocall class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On March 29, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail from the Cox robocall class action settlement worth as much as $536. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!

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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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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.