NOT AGAIN: Allstate Facing TCPA Class Action Over Alleged Ai Voice Calls Used by the Hardin Agency

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Law Conference of Champions V ticket prices as I type: $599.00 (and rising)

Allstate has faced more than its fair share of TCPA litigation over the years and that trend is not ending just yet.

A consumer in Washington state has just filed a TCPA class action against the insurance giant arising from alleged AI voice outbound calls send by the Hardin Agency using a platform called InboundCD.

Consumer Steve Baus contends he was just minding his own business one blustery day in November, 2022 (4 years ago!) when he began receiving AI voice calls pitching him insurance. He claims he did not consent to these calls.

The calls were plainly lead generation calls– they identified the caller as “Consumer Insurance Association” and claimed they “work with major providers like Allstate, State Farm, and Farmers.” CIA is allegedly a dba of InboundCD.

Well the Hardin Agency was apparently buying leads from (the ironically named) InboundCD and a guy named “Glenn” called Steve back apologizing he was unable to take the transfer from the bot because he was on the phone.

“Glenn” apparently fessed to the call being an “AI prerecorded” call and Plaintiff told Glenn the call violated the TCPA.

But InboundCD allegedly went right ahead and AI called Steve again a few days later and again tried to transfer the call to Allstate.

Steve complained directly to Hardin who sent him to InboundCD. InboundCD sent Steve to its lawyer Ian Ballon from GT. And that resulted in a lawsuit.

The case is Baus v. Allstate, et. al. and involves claims for TCPA and CEMA against Allstate, Hardin and InboundCD. It is W.D. Wash. Case No. 2:26-cv-04337 for the curious. And it was brought by Northwest Debt Resolution –the same place Nathen Barton (Deserve to Win Ep. 57 guest) works!

The plaintiff seeks to represent the following classes:

All persons within the United States to whose residential telephone number
Defendants placed, or had placed on their behalf, one or more calls using an
artificial or prerecorded voice for the same purpose that Plaintiff was called from
four years prior to the filing of the Complaint through class certification.

and

All persons within the State of Washington to whose telephone number Defendants
placed, or had placed on their behalf, one or more calls using an artificial or
prerecorded voice for the same purpose that Plaintiff was caled from four years
prior to the filing of the Complaint through class certification.

A few pretty obvious take sways here:

  1. As always be careful who you are buying leads from! Just because a company has “inbound” in its name doesn’t make them safe. And even a single bad lead can turn into a class action!;
  2. Four years is a long time. Risk can come at you into 2030 and a lot can change by then;
  3. Agency owners can be (and almost always are) sued directly– Hardin is lucky he wasn’t sued personally, even though the Hardin Agency is obviously named in the complaint;
  4. AI voice calls are the sexiest TCPA suits going right now. If you are using AI voice you are in the crosshairs!;
  5. Hire the right counsel to negotiate your resolution and make sure they are empowered to get a deal done if you want one. Ian is an experienced lawyer and I’m not saying he did anything wrong– but he didn’t get the deal done and now everybody is sued. Maybe that’s what InboundCD wanted. But I doubt it; and
  6. Troutman Amin, LLP will be adding the BEST LEAD GENERATION ATTORNEY IN AMERICA on Monday– you will definitely want to reach out and retain us as we will be offering special rates for folks in lead generation NEXT WEEK ONLY. Details soon.

Also if you are an Allstate agent, an insurance agent, a lead generator, or anyone in the ecosystem you MUST attend Law Conference of Champions V next July. Tickets are on sale now and prices are rising fast! You will hear from IN HOUSE LAWYERS from major insurance companies and other Fortune companies and have tremendous networking opportunities with lead generators and agents who actually want to get things done right! It is the best marketing law show in America! Be there.

The Dame will be there… you should be too!

Chat soon.

 

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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