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Local man files the lawsuit we all wish we could
By adamg on Fri, 07/24/2015 - 10:32am
A local man who got three junk calls on his cell phone is suing the company he says made them.
In a lawsuit filed this week in US District Court in Boston, Keith Matthews says the three calls he got in March and April from 180 Fusion LLC of Pleasant Grove, Utah, violate the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, because he never gave the company his number and had no relationship with it.
Matthews is seeking to become lead plaintiff in a class action against the company, which he alleges used a "predictive dialer" to reach out and annoy him.
When the calls were picked up by the Plaintiff a large silence preceded contact with the Defendant indicating that those calls were placed by an “autodialer” or predictive dialer.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete Matthews complaint | 68.79 KB |
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Comments
I hope he wins, and wins big
Telespamming is a business model that truly needs to die.
How about this instead
The businesses are breaking Federal Law, so perhaps the Federal Government (which has greater resources than average Joe Citizen does) should be the ones enforcing their laws.
And the end result of any lawsuit should be simple "stop the practice". There is NO justification for the plaintiff to "win big". Especially when we're taking about - stop the presses here - THREE calls!
Of course, are people really still that ignorant that they will answer calls from phone numbers they don't recognize.
And if there's no financial
And if there's no financial penalty for not stopping the practice, why stop? Someone else will have to sue again. And again. And again. And again. Each time they're td to stop, each time they refuse. No, the only thing that works is pain, financial pain.
On pay as you go phones, which I and may others use, each phone call received, whether I answer or whether I ignore it and it goes to voicemail, costs actual money. How much money should I be forced to spend on spammers calling me? My answer is none.
You know the phone number of all your coworkers, doctors, relatives, and everyone who could possibly need to call you? Don't be ridiculous.
It's really not that hard
An incoming call that's from somebody on my contact list will display that name. An incoming call that's not from somebody on my contact list will still display the city and state.
Even if the information is not displayed for some reason, I can tell at a glance (ususally by looking at the area code) if the call is potentially from somebody I know or am expecting to hear from. If it's not, I just ignore it.
And yes, I've gotten spam calls on my cell phone - although only about once or twice a month at most. When I ignore such a call, it NEVER gos to voicemail. Minor inconvenience, yes. Worth the time and bother to file a lawsuit - not by a long shot.
And I will repeat this, getting THREE spam phone calls does not justify giving any person a large cash settlement for "damages" (OMG, I got some unwanted phone calls, I'd just hit the lottery).
It's punitive for the violator
I wish we all could get compensated for the individual violations, but I don't mind one person getting a payday if they can stick it to the violator, and discourage other violators.
Sounds like someone didn't
Sounds like someone didn't win a cruise.
Agreed...
ALL spamming needs to die, except that Hormel treat.
Get the spoofers.
They're the lowest of the lowest when it comes to these spam calls.
And the Cell Company Enablers
There are technological solutions to greatly cut down on this stuff but Verizon & AT&T would rather bill you for minutes and data. Have some way to authenticate the caller on the network level and let the users decide what to do with these "high probability spam" calls. This all can be done without running afoul of the common carrier rules.
A little help from the regulators would also help: No unadvertised fees, no additional billing for texts, etc.
But seeing as how Verizon/AT&T are huge lobbyists, Boston will sooner get the Olympics before any reasonable technical or legislative changes are made.
Realistically
As a veteran of some years in telecom, if they offered such a screening service, you would end up paying for it anyway, directly or indirectly.
I've been getting many
I've been getting many unwanted calls lately on my cell phone even though I registered it on the "do not call" lists.
I tell them this when they call and I also tell them to stop calling me. I even then block the number although they just call from a different number.
It seems to always be an Energy company trying to sell me electricity. I'd be interested in lowering my rates but would never do business with this type of company.
When it first started, I reported the numbers on the FCC web site.
Didn't the law say the company is fined for each call and the "callee" gets some kind of payout? I thought I remembered something like this.
I even got that IRS Scam call on my cell. There is no way the IRS is calling me to tell me I'm in trouble on my cell phone, it was such an obvious scam and I let the caller know that I knew what they are up to and laughed in their face. I then reported their number.
But these are so annoying and I dread the upcoming election cycle. That means my home phone will be ringing off the hook as well (It's really the only time any politician pays attention to us - no exceptions).
The Not So Long Reach Of The Law
My favorite scam call are the "Windows Security" calls where they spoof a US number or sometimes even your own number.
But you know that [the vast majority] these calls are all coming from overseas where the US has no jurisdiction and the local authorities have no care. One can do not call list and sue all one wants to no avail.
This is why I am advocating an increase in drone warfare but think we need to reassess using them Yemen and such. Instead place all the targets in India.