Hyundai Must Face Claims of Unwanted Telemarketing, Judge Says

Hyundai can’t escape a TCPA class action claiming that the dealership sent unwanted telemarketing texts, according to a judge’s recent order.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna has denied Hyundai Motor America Inc.’s motion to dismiss the TCPA class action lawsuit against them. The dealership filed their motion to dismiss in June, claiming that consumers couldn’t prove that telemarketing texts were not sent by a real person. The company also argued that it can’t be held liable for the actions of a local dealership.

Judge Selna rejected this argument based on the details of plaintiff June Abe’s allegations. The federal judge rejected Hyundai’s first argument, referencing Abe’s allegations that Hyundai used telemarketing technology to mimic real texts from humans and mask the fact that the texts were autodialed.

Abe brought claims against Hyundai under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a federal law that prohibits the use of automatic dialing systems to send unsolicited text messages or to place unwanted robocalls. Even if a business has an established business relationship with a consumer, they cannot initiate these and other telemarketing communications unless the consumer has given then prior express written consent to do so.

Abe also claimed that the dealership used technology that stored and dialed random numbers en masse without human intervention, meeting the requirements of an automatic dialing system based on a recent Ninth Circuit decision. In Crunch San Diego LLC v. Marks, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system – meaning that companies can no longer sneak around the TCPA definition.

Based on the details of Abe’s class action allegations, Judge Selna determined that Hyundai could not ask for the suit to be dismissed simply by claiming that the texts could have been sent by a person.

“Hyundai’s reliance on specific details of the exchange with Abe is irrelevant,” Judge Selna countered in his ruling. “Abe’s allegation that the technology Hyundai used may automate ‘even the aspects of the messages that appear personalized,’ supports an inference that the messages were sent using an [automatic telephone dialing system].”

Judge Selna also determined that Hyundai could potentially be held liable for the unwanted telemarketing texts because Abe claimed that the spam texts were part of dealership marketing mechanism. Her name was allegedly collected when she visited her local Hyundai and then was reportedly used in a marketing scheme. Selna agreed that it is possible that the texts were either sent by Hyundai directly or sent by the dealership acting as Hyundai’s agent.

“Because the [first amended complaint] alleges that the messages were a part of an overall campaign to sell Hyundai vehicles, it [is] reasonable at this stage of the proceedings to infer that if the messages were not directly sent by Hyundai, they were made by persons or entities, acting as Hyundai’s agents, to send the messages on its behalf,” Judge Selna said.

The Hyundai TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Abe v. Hyundai Motor America Inc., Case No. 8:19-cv-00699, in the U.S. District for the Central District of California.

Join a Free Car Dealership TCPA Violations Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

You may be eligible to join this lawsuit investigation into car dealership TCPA violations under the following circumstances:

• You did NOT provide express permission in writing to the car dealership to receive the calls or messages.
  You did NOT purchase a vehicle from the dealership that is contacting you.

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