The excessive calls were made after King told the company — in a seven-minute customer service conversation — that she wasn’t delinquent on her bill. Even more galling? The calls were meant for someone else entirely!
TWC was intending to reach Luiz Perez, a customer who once had King’s cell phone number. The automated calls were placed through an “interactive voice system” in an effort to curb late bill payments from customers like Perez.
According to the cable company, the were not liable to King under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (intended to lessen robocalls) because they believed they were placing the calls to Perez, who consented to be contacted via telephone.
Awarding King triple damages of $1,500 per call, U.S. District Attorney Alvin Hellerstein called Time Warner negligent in their actions. A “responsible business” would have made a more concerted effort to find the rightful account holder, the judge reasoned. Seventy-four calls were placed to King after she confirmed the number in question was not Perez’s.
“Companies are using computers to dial phone numbers,” King’s lawyer Sergei Lemberg told Reuters. “They benefit from efficiency, but there is a cost when they make people’s lives miserable. This was one such case.”