Florida man JEFF BOYU SHI has filed a TCPA class action against QUEST HEALTH SOLUTIONS, LLC claiming the company annoyed and harassed him with robocalls meant for someone else.

Per Shi’s complaint–which you can read here: complaint— Quest used prerecorded calls in an effort to contact one of its customers. The problem? Shi wasn’t the customer Quest was trying to reach.

Shi claims he received multiple calls before requested that the calls stop, but they kept on coming.

The TCPA allows actions against companies that make robocalls without express consent–including calls to wrong numbers–with damages up to $1,500.00 per call if the action was willful.

Shi seeks to represent a class consisting of:

Class: All persons throughout the United States (1) to whom Defendant placed, or
caused to be placed, a call, (2) directed to a number assigned to a cellular telephone
service, but not assigned to a Defendant, Inc. customer, accountholder, or authorized user, (3) in connection with which Defendant used an artificial or prerecorded voice, (4) from four years prior to the filing of this complaint through the date of class certification.

With a subclass of:

All persons throughout the United States (1) to whom Defendant placed,
or caused to be placed, a call, (2) directed to a number assigned to a cellular
telephone service, but not assigned to a Defendant customer, accountholder, or
authorized user, (3) in connection with which Defendant used an artificial or
prerecorded voice, (4) after the called party informed Defendant that the telephone
number it called was a wrong or reassigned telephone number, or instructed
Defendant to stop placing calls to the telephone number, (5) from four years prior
to the filing of this complaint through the date of class certification.

Plaintiff seeks unspecified damages but with a nationwide class and a four year statute of limitations Quest could be facing exposure in the hundreds of millions of dollars depending on the campaign volume and duration.

This is just another reminder that wrong number TCPA class actions–particularly those involving prerecorded calls– continue to be a massive risk area for legitimate American companies. Quest was likely not trying to harass anyone and likely just wanted to reach its own customer–but perhaps owing to inaccurate data (and perhaps a failure to use the RND data base) they are facing a masssive class action.

Companies can often avoid calling wrong numbers by using the reassigned numbers database and by following good policies and procedures designed to avoid calling the wrong number. Still there is almost always risk so be sure to consult with counsel before beginning any outreach campaign!