The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: frozen on July 06, 2019, 04:14:49 PM
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I’m curious if anyone has experience suing robocalling firms for violating the Do Not Call list?
I saw something online with advice on tracking down the company behind the robocall and filing a lawsuit, but I lost the link.
There is quite a bit written about this and I’m wondering if anyone has tried it.
Here is an article for background:
https://www.courant.com/business/hc-xpm-2014-01-18-hc-bottom-line-sue-robocallers-20140118-story.html
And here is a blog post I found with an example of how to sue or settle with a telemarketer
https://michaelrkn.github.io/how-to-sue-a-telemarketer/
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The problem is really going to be getting enough info out of them to sue them. And hoping they're even located in the united states in the first place.
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They've been pretty good about not actually identifying themselves and spoofing the numbers they call from. The one time I actually got a live person, he was definitely not American and the moment my questions went off his script he hung up on me. I now get angry phone calls from people who got robo-called using my phone number.
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I'm thinking about it. I get calls about selling my house from one of those "We buy ugly houses!" companies. I may string them along to get a local name and address and then hit them with a lawsuit.
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The majority (vast?) of spam calls are scams/fraudulent where there is no company to sue/no assets to go after. Even spam calls with the names of legitimate companies are often scams. However, if you get a call from a company who actually can be sued, then it can be viable to sue in small claims. The law allows for actual damages or statutory damages (500 or 1500 per call depending on willfulness).
If you get a lot of calls, or are interested in being the named plaintiff in a class action, then I would talk to attorneys who do this type of litigation. There isn't a right for attorney's fees with just a TCPA claim, so generally attorneys take such cases on contingently, getting a third or so of any settlement/judgment. That's quite a good chunk of course, but whether a call is made with an "auto-dialer" can be rather technical and may require an expert witness.
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I got a random small check in the mail one day related to a settlement for spam calling. I figured it was probably because a while back I had reported a few calls online to the persons-who-be (FCC? I don't remember) into their form before I gave up on that as useless.
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I got a random small check in the mail one day related to a settlement for spam calling. I figured it was probably because a while back I had reported a few calls online to the persons-who-be (FCC? I don't remember) into their form before I gave up on that as useless.
Ooooh, now THAT is a good idea!!!! I get SO many of those, it is truly crazy. In one day I'll get six calls from Ohio, then the next day it's California, then they'll change states again. I hate it.
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Most of the spam calls that you get are probably from three guys in Bangladesh. Is it worth suing someone who owns two chickens and a 25% share of a goat?