On January 18, 2022, Judge David G. Estudillo of the Western District of Washington dismissed a putative class action filed against Efinancial LLC. The plaintiff claimed that this insurance company had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by placing calls to telephone numbers on the National Do-Not-Call Registry.
Plaintiff submitted a request for an insurance quote on Efinancial’s website, consenting to the receipt of pre-recorded calls, autodialed calls, emails, and text messages from Efinancial. In response to this online submission, a company representative called the plaintiff and spoke to him for approximately 26 minutes. After answering questions about his criminal and medical history, the plaintiff began to express concerns about the phone call, denying that he had provided Efinancial consent to contact him.
The court granted Efinancial’s motion for summary judgment on two grounds. First, the court held that a reasonable jury would conclude the plaintiff had consented to such contact through his acceptance of the call and his submission of the online form. Second, the court found that, “even assuming a question of fact existed as to whether Plaintiff submitted the internet request, the TCPA safe harbor provisions apply” because Efinancial established that its business practices were aligned with the TCPA.
The case was dismissed with prejudice.