Allstate Sued For Violations Of The TCPA

In a recent lawsuit, Hossfeld v. Allstate, 2024 WL 1328651 filed in the Northern District of Illinois, the court entered a summary judgment against Allstate in a lawsuit in which the plaintiff claimed the insurance company violated the TCPA. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a piece of legislation that regulates the way in which telephone solicitation occurs. Businesses that fail to comply with the TCPA can face serious penalties under federal law. In this article, the Columbus TCPA claims lawyers at Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC will discuss this recent case involving Allstate and the allegations relating to violations under the TCPA.

Understanding the lawsuit 

In Hossfeld v. Allstate, the plaintiff claimed that Allstate violated the TCPA through the actions of independent Allstate agents in Texas. The court found in favor of the plaintiff in this case. According to the lawsuit, Allstate worked with two independent agents in Texas. Each of these agents hired a lead generation company called Transfer Kings to bring in work. Without telling the Allstate agents, Transfer Kings hired another lead gen company called Atlantic Telemarketing to generate leads on their behalf. Atlantic purchased data leads from Policy Genius. Based on a lead form submission on a Policy Genius website, Atlantic called the plaintiff and transferred the call through Transfer Kings to the two Texas Allstate agents.

In this case, the plaintiff claimed that he never submitted a lead on any website. He subsequently sued Allstate in a putative nationwide class action lawsuit over violations of the TCPA for unlawful phone calls.

Both Allstate and the plaintiff moved for summary judgment. Allstate sought to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the consent on Policy Genius prevented the plaintiff from suing. Allstate also claimed that it was not liable for the calls made by a contractor of a contractor. The plaintiff argued that the consent form was inadmissible. He also argued that Allstate was liable for the conduct of Atlantic, one of the lead gen companies. Allstate did not know that Atlantic was generating leads for its agents.

Nonetheless, the court found in favor of the plaintiff. In this case, the court found that Allstate was vicariously liable for the conduct of Policy Genius and the other lead gen firms. While companies are vicariously liable for the conduct of their employees, insurance agents are generally considered contractors—not employees. The court nonetheless found that Allstate was vicariously liable for the calls made by their insurance agents.

The court found that Allstate had taken no steps to prevent its agents from hiring subagents to find leads. In so ruling, it found that Transfer Kings was properly an agent of Allstate’s insurance representatives and hence, was responsible for the conduct of Transfer Kings. Since the agents were responsible for the conduct of Transfer Kings, they were also responsible for Transfer King’s hiring of Atlantic, and so on. Ultimately, the liability flowed back to Allstate and the court held that Allstate was responsible for violations of the TCPA.

Talk to a Columbus, OH TCPA Claims Lawyer Today 

Have you received unsolicited phone calls from a business? If so, they may have violated the law when they illegally contacted you. Call the TCPA violations attorneys at Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC today to schedule an appointment and learn more about how we can help.

Source:

natlawreview.com/article/stunning-vicarious-liability-loss-allstate-allstate-loses-summary-judgment-and