TCPA – Receiving Calls on Your Cell From a “Robo Caller”

In this day and age, most everyone has a cell phone.  In fact, many people have replaced their home
phones with a cell phone.  Most people who have a cell phone
has received a call from a “Robo” dialer at some point or
another.  It is quite typical for calls to be made by
collectors or telemarketers utilizing an automated calling
system. 

The calls can be rather annoying.  Sometimes they use
up your minutes on a limited plan;  sometimes the call is
for another person, but without a human being on the phone, you
cannot tell someone to quit calling your number.  In the worst
case scenario, the calls are incessant – non-stop and daily. 
It can be quite an irritation to have a cell phone ring on an
almost daily basis, only to answer andfind a machine on the other
end. 

There is help in the law.  The TCPA – Telephone Consumer
Protection Act (sometimes referred to as the Telecommunications
Consumer Protection Act) is a statute that provides a remedy for
consumers facing this issue.  Under this law, it is a
violation to call a persons cellular phone:

• with an autodialing system and,
• without the express permission of the owner of
  that phone to make automated calls to the phone.
   

There are only a few simple issues here:  whether the calls
went to a cell phone; whether the call was made by an autodialing
system; and whether the consumer provided express authorization to
call that number.  The issue of whether the calls are made by
an autodialing system are usually easy to answer.  If when
answering the phone, or if the call goes to voicemail, and the
other end is not a human being, but a recording. 

The more complicated issue is that of express authorization to
call the number.  It is in this area where most cases are
fought.  Express authorization means that the person who owns
the phone must actually give the permission openly to the
caller.  This can be found mostly where the consumer provided
the phone number in an application for credit, and now the
collector of the account is calling. 

If a company violates the TCPA, they are liable for $500 for
each call made.  A court may find that the conduct is willful
or wanton, and may increase the amount per call to up to
$1,500.  Therefore, a person getting a very high volume of
calls, perhaps daily, can obtain a great monetary reward for their
aggravation.

If you are receiving calls to your cell phone from an automated,
or “Robo” dialer, CONTACT US for a free
case review. SmithMarco, P.C. has been protecting consumer rights
since 2005.