WILLIAMSPORT – An attorney is suing a Kansas insurance agent for thousands of dollars in damages after the defendant allegedly violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, by contacting him for telemarketing purposes without his permission.
Plaintiff Robert D. Kline of McClure initially filed suit on April 6 in the Mifflin County Court of Common Pleas versus Ryan Michael Mullen of Olathe, Kan.
The case was then removed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on May 15, on grounds of diversity of citizenship between the parties.
Kline alleges that Mullen, an agent for Pinnacle Consulting Group, LLC (doing business as “Senior Plus Advisors”), was engaged in the business of illegal telemarketing of various insurance plans over the phone, through the use of live, automatically-dialed and pre-recorded robocalls.
An action, Kline says, that violates the TCPA, since he never gave his consent to receive the calls and was not provided the ability to opt out of receiving them.
The suit states Kline received his call on his cell phone on the afternoon of March 31, when he was offered “Health Quotes” and the opportunity to answer insurance-related questions.
After speaking with a caller named Jamie, Kline says he answered further questions in an attempt to learn the identity of her employer and who was responsible for the illegal calls. Jamie then was said to have transferred Kline to the defendant Mullen, a licensed sales agent, who then began making insurance policy offers to him, the suit says.
Among other allegations, Kline made a unique claim in the instant case.
“Plaintiff has suffered concrete injury in fact, because the calls referenced herein deplete both the memory and battery capacity of the plaintiff’s cell, which diminishes the usefulness of said phone as well as causes general allowance,” Kline says.
For counts of violating the TCPA, failure to provide identity of business, general damages under the TCPA, trespass to chattels and invasion of privacy, the plaintiff is seeking damages of exactly $6,001, plus the costs of this action.
The plaintiff is representing himself in this matter.
The defendant is represented by Andrew C. Hanan of The Hanan Law Firm, in Cherry Hill, N.J.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:20-cv-00797
Mifflin County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2020-00403
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com