Comenity Bank TCPA Violations

The Comenity Bank settled a class action lawsuit in 2014 over allegations it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The Comenity Bank's TCPA class action lawsuit involved more than 4 million people who received automated calls from the bank to their cellphones. The Comenity Bank Settlement was approved for about $8.5 million.

The Comenity Bank, a debt collection company and owner of a large number of store credit cards, has been accused on multiple occasions of making continuous unwanted phone calls. Consumers have filed, and settled, Nuisance Caller lawsuits against Comenity Bank and other companies such as Wells Fargo Bank. The lawsuits claim harassment by repeated and annoying phone calls or “robocalls”, text messages, or faxes without their consent, and in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), robocalls and telemarketing calls are the most consumer complaints. The FCC requires private robocallers to have prior consent to robocall or robotext your cell phone—unless you are the federal government. In 2015 a Supreme Court ruling stated that federal government entities (private companies working on the government’s behalf) conducting official business are not subject to robocall limits unless Congress says otherwise. 

The TCPA however, prohibits “any person” in the United States from placing robocalls “to any telephone number assigned to a… cellular telephone service… or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.”

The Comenity Bank settlement in 2014 of approximately $8.5 million (of which about $2 million of the will pay attorney's fees) meant that each class member would receive from 98 cents to more than $32, depending upon how many people submitted claims. Class members had to have received the automated calls from Comenity Bank from August 2010 through May 26, 2014. Each class member, however, could only claim one call per cellphone number.

Plaintiff Carrie Couser filed the TCPA Comenity Class Action Lawsuit in October 2012, alleging Comenity Bank called her cellphone at least four times per day using an autodialer. The debt collector was demanding that Couser pay an outstanding debt owed by her deceased mother. In her lawsuit, Couser said she didn’t know anything about the debt, nor did she ever provide her cellphone number or any personal information to Comenity. The case is Carrie Couser et al. v. Comenity Bank et al., case number 3:12-cv-02484, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

In August 2016, another TCPA complaint was filed against Comenity Bank by John and Trina Walker. The lawsuit claims that the debt collector violated the TCPA harassment statutes and intentionally inflicted emotional stress on the couple. The couple claim they have been “annoyed, inconvenienced, bothered, upset and harassed” after Comenity allegedly continued to phone their home number despite requests to stop calling, and “engaged in oppressive and abusive conduct in attempting to collect a debt,” according to the West Virginia Record. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Case number 2:16-cv-08286.

In September 2016, Amber Peralta filed a complaint against Comenity claiming violation of the TCPA and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Peralta claims that she was contacted by Comenity’s automatic telephone dialing system more than 764 times in four months between 2015 and 2016, despite her requests to stop the calls. She has requested a trial by jury, $500 in statutory damages, $1,500 in treble damages, all legal fees and interests and any court costs. The Case is filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division Case number 5:16-cv-02023-TJH-KK.

Attorneys are currently investigating Comenity bank complaints. If you have been receiving unsolicited, automated phone calls from this debt collection company or any other entity that may have violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, you should consider seeking legal help.

Comenity Bank TCPA Violations Legal Help

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Last updated on Oct-27-16