InvestorPlace Media, which sells subscribers stock market news and trading tips, doesn’t honor consumer requests to opt-out of text message solicitations, even after sending consumers confirmations that they’re unsubscribed from receiving future solicitations, alleged plaintiff Courtney Hill’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Wednesday (docket 5:23-cv-00111) in U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina in Statesville. Hill asked InvestorPlace to stop contacting him in July 2021 and the company immediately acknowledged receipt of that request, said his complaint. Yet InvestorPlace sent him at least 13 more texts over the next 16 months, including one as recently as April 23, it said. InvestorPlace’s failure to honor opt-out requests demonstrates it doesn’t maintain written policies and procedures on lawful text messaging marketing, it said. The conduct also shows the company fails to give its employees the proper training and doesn’t maintain an internal do not call list, it said. Hill seeks injunctive relief to halt the company’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. He also seeks statutory damages on behalf of himself and members of his proposed class, plus “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” it said. InvestorPlace didn’t comment Thursday.

U.S. District Judge John Kness for Northern Illinois in Chicago used a telephone motion hearing Wednesday to orally deny State Farm’s Jan. 6 motion to dismiss plaintiff Thomas Gebka’s Dec. 23 amended Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action for failure to state a claim and for lack of Article III standing (see 2301090024). Kness was unpersuaded by State Farm’s arguments that Gebka failed to allege the insurer was vicariously liable for the telemarketing calls Gebka received from State Farm agents, said the judge. He also was unswayed by State Farm’s assertions that Gebka failed to allege any connections between State Farm and the calls, he said. “Under the TCPA, it’s well established that a principal may be held vicariously liable for its agents’ violations of the statute,” said Kness. “At this early stage, relatively, of the litigation, the plaintiff is not required to plead the specifics of the defendant’s business relationships,” said the judge. “Rather, the plaintiff only has to allege a factual basis that gives rise to an inference of an agency relationship,” he said. “I do think the plaintiff has alleged sufficient facts to create a basis for vicarious liability,” he said. “The plaintiff has adequately alleged that the defendant authorized its agencies to appoint sub-agents for telemarketing services,” he said. “I will add that given that the plaintiff was contacted by State Farm agencies within the hour of receiving those telemarketing calls, that could give rise, it does give rise, to a plausible inference that the telemarketing calls were connected to, and of behalf of, the defendant,” he said. “These are only allegations,” said the judge. “They may turn out to be all wet later, like the weather is today, but for now, the tie goes to the runner,” he said. “The plaintiff has the better of the argument here,” he said. Kness dismissed as moot State Farm’s motion to stay or phase discovery in the case, pending the resolution of its motion to dismiss. “We need to move the case forward,” said the judge, ordering the parties to meet and confer on a joint case management report to be filed by July 28. He plans to appoint a magistrate judge to supervise discovery, he said.

Defendant Secure IP Telecom (SIPT), in an unusual single-page answer to plaintiff Brandon Luna’s May 2 Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action (see 2305030002), denied it’s the company that inundated Luna with prerecorded telemarketing calls to promote its America Voice brand. SIPT has never contacted Luna, nor did it ever send him prerecorded messages “as stated in the details of the suit,” SIPT’s counsel, Andrew Shamis of Shamis & Gentile in Miami, wrote U.S. District Court for Southern Texas in Houston in an undated letter posted Tuesday (docket 4:23-cv-01630). SIPT also never owned the “originating” phone number, 631-400-3100, that Luna’s complaint cited as the source of the annoying calls, said the letter: “We are not the America Voice company you are looking for.”

Debt collection firm Firstsource places prerecorded telemarketing calls to offer its financial solutions, “oftentimes without the appropriate consent necessary,” alleges a Tuesday class action (docket 3:23-cv-01343) in U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio in Toledo. Plaintiff Leon Mosier of Swanton, Ohio, alleges Firstsource, operating as MedAssist, “does not procure the appropriate consent before placing prerecorded collection calls to consumers.” On May 23, Mosier received a call on his cellphone with a prerecorded voice message from MedAssist on behalf of Mercy Hospital regarding financial assistance for a recent hospital stay, said the complaint. Mosier “did not have a stay at Mercy Hospital and does not have a debt owing to any hospital,” nor does he require financial assistance for a medical-related debt, the complaint said. Mosier received similar prerecorded calls from Firstsource on five subsequent days through July 5, the complaint said. Mosier, claiming violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, seeks actual and statutory damages and costs, plus an injunction ordering Firstsource to cease all prerecorded calling activity done without consent.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Chad Bryan for Middle Alabama in Montgomery recommends plaintiff Lee Cunningham’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against Southern Power be dismissed or that the utility’s motion for summary judgment be granted, said his signed report Friday (docket 2:22-cv-00621). The utility contends Cunningham has no basis for believing, and in fact knows, that Southern Power isn’t the party that allegedly called him, in violation of the TCPA (see 2304280041). He’s also well aware his residential electrical service is with Alabama Power, not Southern Power, and it was Alabama Power that allegedly called him, it said. When a plaintiff is permitted to proceed in forma pauperis without prepayment of fees or security, as Cunningham was, the court is charged with “an affirmative duty” to dismiss the action if it’s determined to be frivolous, said Bryan’s report. Bryan is “of the view” that Cunningham’s “naked allegations” against Southern Power are “clearly baseless” and subject to “threshold dismissal,” it said. This isn’t an instance “where the court is required to weigh competing facts or make a credibility determination,” it said. Cunningham “has offered no facts to demonstrate that a claim lies against Southern Power,” it said.

Americans “receive billions of spam text messages every year,” and Apollo Interactive, a performance marketing and lead generation agency in Los Angeles, “is responsible for a significant portion of this spam,” alleged plaintiff Eric Moorman’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Monday (docket 8:23-cv-01533) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa. Moorman’s home, phone and privacy, and those of his potential class members, “have been invaded by Apollo’s spam text messages,” it said. Moorman and the class members “have no relationship with Apollo, have no account with Apollo, have never provided any phone number to Apollo, and have never agreed for Apollo to send any type of communication,” it said. Moorman, and some of the class members, “tried to eliminate the harassment and invasion of privacy from unauthorized text messages” by registering their phone numbers on the national do not call registry, but that didn’t work, it said. “Apollo simply blasts text messages without caring whether they had consent” or whether the recipient’s phone number was listed on the DNC registry, it said. Moorman estimates Apollo has “knowingly and willfully” texted him at least 14 times, even though his number was listed on the DNC registry since October 2008, said his complaint. Apollo initiated the text messages, using an automated system, “for the purpose of encouraging the purchase of insurance,” it said. Apollo “stored or produced” Moorman’s phone number using a random or sequential generator, it said. The unwanted spam “is incredibly annoying, distracting, and frustrating to Moorman and the class members,” it said. “The spam invades their substantive right to privacy, namely the right to be free from unsolicited text messages,” it said. Apollo didn’t comment.

Because telemarketing campaigns generally place calls to hundreds, thousands or even millions of potential customers en masse, four plaintiffs said in a suit against Allstate Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois “on behalf of a proposed class of persons who received similar unsolicited telemarketing calls promoting the sale of Allstate insurance products.” Allstate engages insurance agents across the country to do that telemarketing on its behalf, and authorizes those agents to place telemarketing calls “on Allstate’s behalf and subject to Allstate’s control,” including calls with prerecorded or artificial voices, and calls placed to numbers registered on the national do not call list, said plaintiffs Joseph Bond, Barbara Durant, William Kroll and Tonia Jewell-Vines in the complaint (docket 1:23-cv-04385). When an Allstate agent sells a policy as a result of “illegal telemarketing calls,” and a premium is collected on that policy, Allstate and the agent each receive a portion of that premium, it said. “Allstate knowingly accepted the benefits of the illegal telemarketing calls, both in the form of advertising benefits that Allstate obtained during the calls themselves and in collection of premium payments resulting from any sales made from those calls,” it said. This isn’t the first lawsuit against Allstate alleging TCPA violations that arise from calls placed by an Allstate-approved vendor, it said. Allstate “has been on notice” since at least 2019 that its agents are violating the TCPA on Allstate’s behalf, “yet Allstate has allowed the violations to continue,” said the complaint. Court records show it’s the 23rd TCPA action filed against Allstate since December 2019.

National Tax Advisory Services removed to U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Pierce a class action filed May 31 in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Indian River County that alleges the tax-relief company is guilty of Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Florida Telephone Solicitation Act wrongdoing, said its notice of removal Friday (docket 2:23-cv-14200). The company “reserves all rights to assert any and all defenses” in response to the complaint, said its notice. Plaintiff Alan Grochowski’s complaint alleges the defendant engages in unsolicited marketing to promote its services by hounding consumers with unwanted calls to numbers listed on the national do not call registry. The conduct harms “thousands of consumers in the process,” it said. Grochowski's number was listed on the DNC registry since July 2003, it said. He seeks injunctive relief to halt the illegal conduct, “which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation and the disruption of daily life for thousands of individuals.” Court records show Grochowski's action is the third such case against the company this year and the sixth since August.

Pizza Hut engages in unsolicited text messaging to promote its goods and services, and continues to text consumers after they opt out of the solicitations, alleged a putative class action (docket 2:23-cv-00192), filed Wednesday and docketed Thursday, in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington in Spokane. Pizza Hut “has caused multiple text messages to be transmitted” to plaintiff Danuel Cortez’s cellphone number, said the complaint. As “clearly demonstrated” by multiple screenshots embedded in the complaint, Pizza Hut doesn’t honor consumer requests to opt out of text solicitations, it said. Cortez tried several times to opt out, but the texts kept coming, it said. Pizza Hut’s failure to honor opt-out requests demonstrates it doesn’t “maintain written policies and procedures regarding its text messaging marketing,” and it doesn’t provide training to its telemarketing personnel, it said. It’s also evidence Pizza Hut doesn’t maintain an internal do not call list, it said. The company didn’t comment Friday.

Redbox removed to U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa a May 10 class action filed in 13th Judicial Circuit Court in Hillsborough County in which plaintiff Ruby Gamez alleges Redbox engaged in Florida Telephone Solicitation Act wrongdoing, said its notice of removal Wednesday (docket 8:23-cv-01497). Redbox doesn’t accept Gamez’s allegations, denies it violated any laws, and “expressly reserves all defenses and rights” with respect to her claims, said the notice. Redbox phones consumers to promote its goods and services “without having secured prior express written consent as required by the FTSA,” said the complaint. Gamez and members of her potential class were “aggrieved” by Redbox’s unlawful conduct, “which adversely affected and infringed upon their legal rights not to be subjected to the illegal acts at issue,” it said. As demonstrated by the “impersonal and generic nature of the message,” the Redbox sales calls made to hundreds of Florida consumers “involved an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers or the playing of a recorded message when a connection is completed,” it said. The complaint seeks statutory damages and an injunction requiring Redbox to cease all telephone solicitations made without express written consent.