The Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) provides certain statutory damages when telemarketers harass consumers with unsolicited telephone calls, faxes, or text messages. These calls invade your privacy, which may not stop unless you get an attorney to help. There are multiple sections and ways a telephone solicitor can violate the statute. For each violation, the recipient of the telephone call, fax, or text message is eligible for a minimum of $500.00. Knowing and willful violations earn between $500.00 and $1,500.00. Our law firm has recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars for individuals harmed by this statute on multiple occasions.
Automatic Telephone Dialing
Section B of the TCPA makes it unlawful to use an automatic telephone dialing system to call any cellular telephone or to “initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party.” This includes text messages and faxes. You may receive several hang-up calls in many cases involving telephone dialing systems. “Predictive dialer” systems used by many solicitors and bill collectors work by making several calls to various telephone numbers and then connecting the ones where people answer to representatives of the caller. The call will hang up if all the representatives are unavailable, even if the person answers.
Damages for TCPA Violations
Each time you receive a call, it qualifies as a separate violation. Whether the automatic dialer hangs up or connects you to someone else, an unsolicited call is harassment. For example, if there are 100 calls, you may recover $50,000.00 (100 calls x $500.00 per call). If the violations are “knowing and willful,” the amount can be increased to $150,000 (100 calls x $1,500.00 per call). The only exception to this rule is an established business relationship between the collector and the consumer.
We recently represented an individual who was being harassed about a bill that he allegedly owed. Collectors continued harassing our client even after he requested that they stop calling. We filed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim on his behalf, and the case was settled for $150,000.00. We also recently settled a TCPA case for a client receiving harassing phone calls for someone else’s debt. That person used our client’s phone number in his application. Despite telling the bank that this wasn’t her debt, they called and called and called. We settled her TCPA case for $100,000.00.
Do Not Call Registry
Section C of the TCPA outlaws calling someone on the National Do Not Call registry without an existing business relationship. Like Section B, the statutory penalty is per violation, meaning you can recover the penalty for each contact. With both Section (b) and (c), there is an exception for callers with whom the recipient has an “established business relationship.”
North Carolina TCPA Attorneys
The North Carolina TCPA attorneys of Maginnis Howard represent clients throughout the state. Whether you are dealing with calls asking for another person, telemarketer harassment, or another TCPA violation, our experienced attorneys can guide you through the legal process. Our firm offers free consultations and accepts TCPA cases against telephone solicitors on a contingency basis. This means you pay no attorneys’ fees unless and until we obtain a settlement or verdict on your behalf.
If a telephone solicitor is harassing you, contact the North Carolina TCPA lawyers of Maginnis Howard at (919) 526-0450. You can also send a confidential message to our attorneys using our contact page. While we cannot accept every case we receive, our intake does its best to direct potential clients to the necessary resources.
