Last Friday, Joshua Epps filed a class action complaint in the Southern District of New York against PepsiCo Inc. and Quail Mountain Coffee & Vending for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for purportedly incessant automated telemarketing.
The complaint began by citing that, by enacting the TCPA, Congress declared that “automated and prerecorded calls are a nuisance and an invasion of privacy, regardless of the type of call.”
According to the plaintiff, on February 9 and on numerous other days, the defendants placed “numerous” telemarketing calls to Epps that were “using an artificial or prerecorded voice.” The plaintiff alleged that this constitutes a nuisance and an invasion of privacy. He believed that these acts were willful and directed by PepsiCo and that the defendants’ conduct will continue to cause irreparable harm to the plaintiff and the putative class unless injunctive relief is enacted. Since the TCPA states that it is unlawful to “initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party,” the plaintiff claimed that this constitutes a TCPA violation.
Furthermore, the plaintiff reiterated that he did not consent to receive any calls from PepsiCo for more Pepsi products and that no effort was made to obtain his consent. Thus the TCPA states that he is entitled to $500 per phone call received, and since the calls were willfully made, the plaintiff and putative class are entitled to treble damages up to $1500 per call.
The plaintiff is seeking class certification, damages and treble damages awarded under the TCPA, injunctive relief, pre- and post-judgment interest, and other relief.
The plaintiff is represented by Bursor & Fisher, P.A.
