Edward Sanabria has filed a class-action complaint against Healthmarkets, Inc for sending unsolicited marketing texts and calls. He argues that these solicitations violate Florida’s Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
In 1991, Congress passed the TCPA to protect consumers from unsolicited telemarketing calls, and in 2003, the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) partnered with the Federal Trade Commision to establish a national Do Not Call Registry (DNCR). Then in 2012, the FCC further updated their regulations to require all telemarketers to acquire written consent before calling potential consumers. FTSA has similar requirements.
In November 2021, Edward registered his cellphone number to the national DNCR, and yet he alleges that Healthmarkets sent him text messages and phone calls without his consent. As such, he claims these constitute violations of the aforementioned regulations.
The plaintiff seeks class action status with the class being defined as individuals who received unsolicited calls and/or texts from Healthmarkets who reside in Florida and did not give consent to be contacted by Healthmarkets and all individuals on the DNCR. He seeks class action status because he claims that while the maximum possible damages exceed $5 million, the individual damages would not exceed $1,500 and thus would not warrant individual suits for most class members.
Edward seeks an order certifying class actions status, an award for damages to himself and each class member, an order that these calls/texts violate both the TCPA and the FTSA, an injunction against further calls by Healthmarkets, and any additional damages that a jury trial deems fit.
The complaint was filed in the Southern District of Florida, where the plaintiff resides, and he is represented by Shamis & Gentile and Edelsberg Law.
