in Newswire Published on October 14, 2022

Final Expense Assistant, TZ Insurance Solutions Face Class Action Over ‘Unsettling’ Calls

Gaker v. Q3M Insurance Solutions et al

Filed: October 11, 2022 ◆§ 3:22-cv-00296-RJC-DSC

A class action alleges Final Expense Assistant and TZ Insurance Solutions have placed telemarketing calls to phone numbers they got through the ruse of a sweepstakes.

Defendant(s)

Q3M Insurance Solutions

Law(s)

Telephone Consumer Protection Act

State(s)

North Carolina

A proposed class action alleges Final Expense Assistant and TZ Insurance Solutions have illegally placed unsolicited telemarketing calls to phone numbers they supposedly obtained through the ruse of a sweepstakes.

According to the 19-page case, telemarketer Final Expense and insurance broker TZ "inundated" a Florida woman's cell phone with unwanted telemarketing calls throughout the early months of 2020, even though her number had been registered on the National Do Not Call registry.

The lawsuit contends that the companies obtained the plaintiff's phone number in January 2020 after her name and phone number were entered into Super-Sweepstakes.com for the chance to "win $50,000," although the consumer claims to not recall entering the contest.

Shortly after entering the sweepstakes, the plaintiff began to receive an onslaught of calls from Final Expense on behalf of TZ, the case alleges. The calls apparently solicited burial and "final expense" insurance, which the plaintiff found to be "morbid and unsettling," the complaint states.

“Rather than winning money, Plaintiff and the putative class member received disruptive and unwanted telemarketing calls regarding the unsettling topic of burial insurance,” the filing scathes.

The suit alleges the companies have violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by illegally contacting phone numbers registered on the Do Not Call Registry without securing consent through a "clear and conspicuous disclosure."

Per the complaint, Final Expense tried to persuade the plaintiff that she had provided express written consent to receive the telemarketing calls. The telemarketer showed the plaintiff a "Trusted Form" document, which the company claimed indicated that her information was used to "opt-in" to the sweepstakes, the case asserts.

As the filing tells it, the "opt-in" page contained "a hyperlink on the camouflaged words ‘marketing partners,’ which directs a visitor who clicks the hyperlink to a webpage listing hundreds of companies, including Final Expense." The suit contests that the “sweepstakes” website exists merely to obtain consumer data.

"The Super-Sweepstakes website was designed to present a loud, clear and conspicuous promotion of a ‘sweepstakes’ to win $50,000 with a conspicuous [sic], overshadowed and camouflaged disclosure as to the true purpose of the website: obtaining consumer data for telemarketing purposes- including facilitating the sale of ‘burial insurance.’"

The suit argues that camouflaged “marketing partners” disclosure is not a valid form of consent under the TCPA because it is not apparent to a reasonable consumer. Instead, Final Expense's disclosure is "deliberately deceptive," the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit looks to represent the following class:

“For the period from four years prior to the filing of this suit until the date a class is certified, all persons in the United States whose: (1) phone numbers in Defendants’ records that purportedly show the numbers were submitted through the ‘Super-Sweepstakes.com’ website; (2), where such person received more than one telephone call on behalf of TZ or from Final Expense (or someone acting on its behalf) during a 12-month period; (3) that person’s number was registered on the Do Not Call Registry for more than 31 days at the time the calls were received; and (4) the person’s phone number was either a landline or a cell phone, for which the subscriber was an individual, rather than a business.”

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