Class Action Alleges Lender Sends Texts to Numbers on National DNC Registry
Nationwide lender Premium Capital Funding promotes its services by engaging in unsolicited telemarketing, “harming thousands of consumers in the process,” alleged Stephanie Brown’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Monday (docket 8:24-cv-01469) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida. Brown…
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seeks damages and injunctive relief to halt Premium Capital’s “illegal conduct,” which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation and “disruption” of the daily lives of thousands of individuals, said her complaint. The Lakeland, Florida, plaintiff also seeks statutory damages on behalf of herself and members of the class, plus “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” it said. Any of Premium Capital’s violations were knowing, willful and intentional, making Brown and the class eligible for treble damages under the TCPA, it said. Brown personally listed her cellphone number with the national do not call registry in June 2009, and she has since received an email from the registry confirming her number’s appearance on the listing, said the complaint. Yet Premium Capital sent at least four unsolicited text messages to her number, addressed to a person unknown to her and named Douglas, it said. The plaintiff, through counsel, received an email confirmation from Premium Capital asserting that the text messages she received were a “mistake,” due to the company texting to an “incorrect number,” it said. Premium Capital thus acknowledged that it didn’t have consent to send the “violating text messages,” it said. At no point in time did Brown provide Premium Capital with her express written consent to be contacted, in violation of the TCPA’s Section 227(a)(5), it said. Premium Capital “may not allege consent through a third-party lead generator, as the FCC has prohibited such actions,” it said.