Legion Auto Protection Hit with Class Action Over Alleged CarGuard Vehicle Service Contract Robocalls
by Erin Shaak
Moore v. Legion Auto Protection Services et al.
Filed: July 16, 2021 ◆§ 5:21-cv-01192
Legion Auto Protection Services and two others face a lawsuit over their alleged practice of robocalling consumers to solicit sales of vehicle service contracts.
California
Legion Auto Protection Services, WalCo Funding and CarGuard Administration face a proposed class action lawsuit over their alleged practice of robocalling consumers to solicit sales of vehicle service contracts.
According to the 23-page case out of California, defendant Legion is a sales agent, vendor or dealer tasked with selling CarGuard’s vehicle service contracts through telemarketing. Per the case, WalCo Funding is a payment plan provider for such contracts.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants have used an automatic telephone dialing system to place robocalls to consumers’ phone numbers, some of which were listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, without obtaining prior express consent to do so. Per the case, the calls violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a federal law “designed to prevent calls like the ones described within this complaint.”
The plaintiff, a 76-year-old woman represented by her granddaughter as attorney-in-fact, claims the defendants also violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) by obtaining her bank account information “under false pretenses,” selling her a vehicle service contract for a car she does not even own, and authorizing recurring debits from her account without informing her as to how to terminate the recurring charges.
“Plaintiff was damaged because she was required to part with her money and/or spending power to obtain a vehicle service contract that had absolutely no value or benefit to her because she did [not] own or possess the vehicle that is the subject of the supposed contract, and she had to undertake the burdens associated with all efforts to rescind the contract and to stop recurring debit charges to her bank account,” the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit claims the plaintiff, whose phone number has been listed on the National Do Not Call Registry since 2003, received at least two autodialed calls from the defendants between February and March 2021. During each call, a “noticeable silence” was initially heard before the call was transferred to a live agent, the case relays. Per the suit, the defendants’ sales agents “spoofed” their phone numbers to make the calls appear as though they were coming from a local number.
The plaintiff says she never provided her home phone number to the defendants for the purpose of receiving telemarketing calls and never consented to receive the calls “in any respect.”
“Defendants placed the calls to Plaintiff and Class Members regardless of whether these individuals had provided express written consent or had registered their phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry,” the complaint alleges.
The case goes on to claim that during one of the calls, a sales representative “duped [the plaintiff] into purchasing a vehicle service contract for a vehicle that she does not even own or possess.” Per the suit, Legion obtained the plaintiff’s bank account information “under false pretenses” and failed to fully instruct her on how the information would be used, the defendants’ intent to automatically debit her account on a recurring basis and her right to cancel the recurring debits. Moreover, the written contract sent to the plaintiff also failed to apprise her on how to terminate the charges, the complaint claims.
The lawsuit looks to represent the following two proposed classes:
“Do Not Call Registry Class: All people in the United States who from four years prior to the filing of this action (1) were called by or on behalf of Defendants; (2) more than one time within any 12-month period; (3) where the person’s telephone number had been listed on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least thirty days; (4) for the purpose of selling Defendants’ products and services; and (5) for whom Defendants claim (a) it did not obtain prior express written consent, or (b) it obtained prior express written consent in the same manner as Defendant claims it supposedly obtained prior express written consent to call the Plaintiff.”
“Unauthorized Payment Class: All people in the United States who from one year prior to the filing of this action (1) Legion or WalCo Funding subjected to one or more automatic recurring debit charges from a bank account for (2) a vehicle service contract sold by Legion.”
The complaint can be found below.
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