Calling Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable’s automated dialing system robocalled Araceli King’s cellphone 153 times in less than 12 months in an effort to collect overdue payments from someone else who actually owed the money and had had Ms. King’s mobile phone number before her.  Ms. King called to object and to demand that the calls stop, explaining that she was not the person who owed the debt. TWC continued to call. Ms. King sued. TWC alleged that under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the previous cellphone number subscriber had consented to the calls. According a judge, TWC was wrong.

U. S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein noted that 74 of the calls to Ms. King came after she explained that she was not the debtor,  and that at that point TWC had to be aware of that fact. Those last calls were, he said, “particularly egregious violations of the TCPA and indicate that TWC simply did not take this lawsuit seriously.” He awarded Ms. King $229,500–$1500 per call, the maximum allowed under the statute.  More here from the Guardian.