On October 26, 2015, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against TD Bank USA, N.A. ("TD Bank") in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that the bank violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The putative class action seeks to certify a class of "[a]ll individuals in the United States to whom: (1) [TD Bank] placed a call; (2) using an automated telephone dialing system; (3) to his or her cellular telephone number; and (4) where [TD Bank] did not have express consent to place such call at the time it was placed."
How did TD Bank Allegedly Violate the TCPA?
TD Bank Accused of Violating the TCPA in Class Action Lawsuit
The complaint includes numerous "upon information and belief" factual allegations against TD Bank. Among those allegations are charges that TD Bank "uses skip tracing and number trapping to acquire additional phone numbers to contact" and that TD Bank "places these calls with equipment that has the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers using random or sequential number generators and to dial such numbers, en masse . . . ."
With respect to the named plaintiff, however, the allegations are straightforward. According to the complaint, the plaintiff opened a credit card account with Target in 2007. Thereafter, Target sold the plaintiff's credit card account to TD Bank. In April of this year, TD Bank placed a debt collection call to the plaintiff's cellular telephone allegedly using "a prerecorded or artificial voice." At that time, the plaintiff informed TD Bank that she had not consented to receive telephone calls on her cellular telephone. Nonetheless, TD Bank placed a call to the plaintiff's cellular telephone the very next day.
Although a summons has been issued, there is no record that TD Bank has been served with the subject complaint.
Protect Yourself
As we have previously blogged, the Federal Communications Commission recently released a spreadsheet containing consumer TCPA-related complaints. Although the pending class action lawsuit against TD Bank in New Jersey contains a number of allegations alleging violations of the TCPA, the plaintiff's specific fact pattern may limit TD Bank's class exposure. We will continue to monitor the progress of this latest TCPA class action.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic or if you have been served with process concerning the TCPA or your telemarketing practices, please e-mail us at info@kleinmoynihan.com or call us at (212) 246-0900.
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