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TCPA Lawsuit Awarded $571,000

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

TCPA Lawsuit Awarded $571,000

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits are on the rise, as people continue to stand up for their rights as consumers. In a recent case in Federal Court in Wisconsin, a debt collector called someone more than 1000 times; the individual, Mr. Nelson, sued the debt collector for violating the TCPA, and was awarded $571,000 in statutory damages. Part of Nelson’s argument was that the debt collector called his cell phone using a dialer preview mode, which is not that different from an automatic dialing machines (illegal under the TCPA); the court agreed, writing:“In making these calls, defendant used . . . a computer telephone software system that routes and places inbound and outbound calls. [The software system] has the capacity to (1) store telephone numbers and then call them; and (2) perform ‘predictive dialing’ and ‘preview dialing.’”In predictive dialing, the computing system times the dialing of numbers with an algorithm, to predict when an agent will become available to receive the next call. To use this method of dialing, the debt collector created lists of customer telephone numbers to be called on a certain day. With preview dialing, an employee chooses a telephone number by clicking on a computer screen and the system calls it—in other words, the debt collectors never called Mr. Nelson by pressing numbers on a keypad, and Mr. Nelson’s rights under the TCPA were violated.The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations, the use of automated telephone equipment, and unsolicited advertisements. Specifically, the TCPA limits the use of automatic dialing systems, prerecorded voice messages, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes. So, what should you do when you get a robocall or an unsolicited text message? Hang up the phone. Do not press 1 or any other numbers to get off the list. Then, contact Mike Agruss Law, for a free consultation. The Federal Trade Commission has stopped billions, yes billions, of robocalls in the last two years. Mike Agruss Law, will do the same for you. We will aggressively enforce the law to stop robocalls and unsolicited text message. Not only will we stop the calls and text messages, but you may be entitled to money damages, too. Damages in TCPA cases range from $500.00 – $1,500.00 per call or text.  

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