Defendant Bank of the West removed to U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles Wednesday an Aug. 4 state court complaint (docket 2:23-cv-07365) in which plaintiff Renata King alleges the bank hounded her with “numerous harassing calls” using an automatic telephone dialing system to collect a debt. The bank “made enough calls to be considered harassment,” causing King “high levels of stress,” said her complaint, alleging violations of California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. She told the bank to stop calling her, but still the calls continued, it said. Due to the bank’s wrongdoing, King “continues to suffer injury” to her feelings, plus “personal humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish and emotional distress,” it said. She seeks a jury trial, plus treble damages of $1,500 per violation for the bank’s willful and knowing TCPA misconduct.

Defendant loanDepot’s Aug. 7 motion to dismiss plaintiff Lee Abrahamian’s first amended Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint for failure to state a claim (see 2308080041) ignores Abrahamian’s “well-pled factual allegations,” said Abrahamian’s response Friday (docket 2:23-cv-00728) in U.S. District Court for Arizona in Phoenix in opposition. Abrahamian’s allegations “plausibly demonstrate” the calls and “follow-on” text message loanDepot placed and sent to his phone telephone solicitations, said his opposition. LoanDepot’s argument the TCPA requires Abrahamian to have personally registered his phone number with the national do not call registry “is also several times misplaced and against the great weight of authorities to have addressed the issue,” it said. For those reasons, loanDepot’s bid for summary dismissal “is not well-taken and should be denied,” it said. Abrahamian’s phone number has been registered with the DNC registry since October 2007, it said. Abrahamian didn’t provide the number to loanDepot, nor did he provide consent or give permission to loanDepot to receive phone calls or text messages for any purpose, including for purposes of soliciting mortgage loans, it said. He didn’t make an inquiry with loanDepot for a home equity loan or any other product or service, and he didn’t have “an established business relationship” with loanDepot.com, it said. Notwithstanding those facts, loanDepot.com placed several solicitation and marketing calls and sent a text message to Abrahamian’s phone number for the purposes of encouraging him to take a home equity loan and to market its other mortgage products and services, it said. LoanDepot placed the marketing calls and sent the text message to Abrahamian willfully, knowing it didn’t have his consent or permission, and knowing his phone number is on the DNC registry, it said.

Defendant Amare Global is a mental wellness company that engages in “aggressive unsolicited marketing” to promote its products and services, “harming thousands of consumers in the process,” alleged plaintiff Tiffani Finch’s class action Friday (docket 8:23-cv-01637) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana. Finch seeks injunctive relief to halt Amare’s illegal conduct, “which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation, and disruption of the daily life of thousands of individuals,” it said. She also seeks statutory damages on behalf of herself and members of her class, plus “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” it said. Finch alleges Amare sent her at least three promotional text messages in early June, to a number listed on the national do not call registry since April 26, said her complaint. “At no point in time” did Finch give Amare “her express written consent to be contacted,” it said.

Kohl’s has inundated plaintiff Brandi Taylor for the past several months with “systematic” debt collection calls using a prerecorded or artificial voice, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged her complaint Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-01874) in U.S. District Court for Eastern California in Sacramento. In addition to her allegations of TCPA wrongdoing, Taylor’s complaint contends Kohl’s violated California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Kohl’s “willfully ignored” Taylor’s demands that it stop calling her and continued placing repeated calls to her cellphone, “including multiple calls during the same day,” said her complaint. Despite her “multiple efforts” to get the calls to stop, the retailer’s “harassing conduct has continued through the filing of this action,” it said. The San Joaquin County, California, resident estimates Kohl’s placed no fewer than 30 calls to her cellphone “after being notified to stop calling,” it said. Court records show Kohl’s has been sued for TCPA violations 66 times since May 2011.

Online luxury-watch retailer Meghani World engages in unlawful unsolicited text-messaging and continues to text-message consumers after they opt out of its solicitations, alleged plaintiff Marquelle Vinson’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Wednesday (docket 3:23-cv-01938) in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas. Vinson seeks injunctive relief to halt Meghani’s illegal conduct, “which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation, and disruption of the daily life of thousands of individuals,” said her complaint. She also seeks statutory damages on behalf of herself and members of her putative class, plus “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” it said. Meghani caused multiple text messages to be transmitted to Vinson’s cellphone number, it said. Her complaint features nearly three pages of screenshots, including those of multiple times in which Vinson tried to opt out of the text messages by replying “stop.” Meghani sent her at least two additional solicitations after Vinson’s initial opt-out request, said her complaint. Its failure to honor opt-out requests demonstrates it doesn’t maintain written policies and procedures about its text-messaging marketing, provides little or no training to its telemarketing personnel and doesn’t maintain an internal do not call list, it said.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson for Middle Alabama in Montgomery granted defendant Southern Power's motion to dismiss plaintiff Lee Cunningham’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint, said his signed order Wednesday (docket 2:22-cv-00621). The judge gave Cunningham until Sept. 13 to file a new complaint replacing Alabama Power as the defendant that actually placed the unlawful calls. The judge threatened to dismiss Cunningham's case for good if he fails to do so. A magistrate judge had recommended that Cunningham’s case against Southern Power be dismissed because his claims were frivolous (see 2307210018). Thompson’s order adopted those recommendations and overruled Cunningham’s objections to the recommendation.

U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras for Northern Illinois in Chicago ordered the parties in the July 7 complaint that accuses Allstate of widespread Telephone Consumer Protection Act wrongdoing (see 2307100007) to file a joint status report by Oct. 13, “including the possibility of settlement,” said a docket entry notification Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-04385). If no possibility of settlement exists, the report should estimate “the nature and length of discovery necessary to prepare the case for resolution,” said the notification. The judge struck the telephone status hearing that had been set for Sept. 5, it said. The hearing will be reset after the judge receives the Oct. 13 status report, it said. The complaint alleges Allstate engages insurance agents across the U.S. to place telemarketing calls to consumers on its behalf, including calls that violate the TCPA because they use prerecorded or artificial voices, and are placed to numbers listed on the national do not call registry.

MarketPro Homebuyers, a real estate marketing company and lead generation business, bombards consumers whose numbers are listed on the national do not call registry with text-message solicitations seeking to buy their homes for cash “as is,” alleged plaintiffs Erin Wilcox and Connie Slingbaum in their Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-02364) in U.S. District Court for Maryland in Baltimore. Wilcox of Bel Air, Maryland, and Slingbaum of Havertown, Pennsylvania, didn’t request any quotes as referenced in the subject text messages they received, said the complaint. The plaintiffs aren’t, and weren’t, interested in selling their homes, it said. They allege they suffered “actual harm as a result of the text messages at issue in that they suffered an invasion of privacy, an intrusion into their life, and a private nuisance,” it said. The Rockville, Maryland, company disregards consumers’ status on the DNC registry “as a matter of practice,” it said. It also fails “to even attempt to obtain prior express written consent” to contact the plaintiffs or other consumers about its telemarketing offerings, “based on numerous complaints made by other consumers,” it said. The complaint seeks treble damages for the company’s willful and knowing TCPA wrongdoing, plus injunctive relief to enjoin it from continuing its “violative behavior.”

The Republican Committee of Chester County (RCCC), Pennsylvania, wrongly seeks to hold Twilio financially responsible for any judgment in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act case arising from RCCC’s transmission of unwanted election-related text messages, said Twilio’s memorandum of law Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-05185) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Mark Fidanza, the original plaintiff, alleges the RCCC inundated his cellphone with 17 text messages between Oct. 19 and Election Day Nov. 8 (see 2212280028). The RCCC responded in a May 5 third-party complaint that alleged its vendor Buzz360 teamed with Twilio to hire Onvoy to deliver the text messages to Fidanza’s phone (see 2305040004). But Twilio had “no legal or contractual relationship” with the RCCC, said its memorandum. There’s notably “no reference to or mention of Twilio” in Fidanza’s initial complaint against the RCCC, in any of Fidanza’s subsequent amendments, or in the answers of RCCC and Buzz360 that followed, it said. From the four “conclusory sentences” that the RCCC’s third-party complaint contains, Twilio can’t discern any “cognizable cause of action against it, any supposedly wrongful conduct by it, or any obligation whatsoever that Twilio has to RCCC,” it said. The RCCC’s allegations don’t meet “the threshold requirements under Rule 8 of a short and plain statement of a claim, supported by plausible allegations of fact,” it said. “On that basis alone,” it said, the RCCC’s complaint against Twilio should be dismissed.

Apparel company Seven Rock Life sent multiple texts to a customer’s cellphone, despite her listing on the do not call registry, said a Monday Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (docket 1:23-cv-06407) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. Plaintiff Laura Silva of Canadian County, Oklahoma, didn’t give her consent to be contacted and has no existing business relationship with the company, said the complaint. The calls originated from number 844-617-2347, but that number isn't capable of receiving telephone calls and didn't connect Silva to Seven Rock when she tried to call, the complaint said. The calls to Silva’s phone caused her and class members harm and disruption, plus invasion of her privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, trespass and conversion, the complaint said. Silva’s claims include violation of the TCPA and the Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act. She seeks actual and statutory damages, plus an injunction requiring Seven Rock to cease all telephonic sales calls and text messages made without valid consent under the OTSA.