WASHINGTON-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. said it has filed three lawsuits in the federal court in Atlanta to stop telemarketers from making unsolicited and illegal calls to its wireless customers.
In one lawsuit, Cingular alleges that Sebell Telecommunications L.L.C. of Miami, Fla. made unsolicited marketing calls to Cingular subscribers through the use of an automatic telephone dialing system and a prerecorded message-actions expressly prohibited under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other laws. Autodialing systems store or produce telephone numbers to be called using a random or sequential number generator.
Cingular claims Sebell conspired with a company in the Dominican Republic, called Florida Vacation Corp., to make the telemarketing calls, which occurred during June and July. Cingular originally filed a more general lawsuit on this matter in August, but now has amended the earlier complaint by identifying defendants discovered through Cingular’s ongoing investigation.
Cingular’s second lawsuit alleges that American Broadcast Systems Inc. of Seattle used an autodialing mechanism to send prerecorded messages about “free vacations” to Cingular customers.
In a third lawsuit, Cingular alleges that Go2Prepaid L.L.C. of Miami also made unsolicited prerecorded telemarketing calls to Cingular customers using an autodialing mechanism. Cingular claims that Go2Prepaid worked in connection with Alo Hispanos of Bogota, Colombia, to make the calls.
Cingular seeks injunctions and damages in all three lawsuits.
Verizon Wireless was successful in similar lawsuits late last year. The carrier won permanent injunctions against Intelligent Alternatives of San Diego, Calif., and Resort Marketing Trends of Coral Springs, Fla., which used auto-dialers and recorded messages to contact Verizon Wireless customers.
In addition to halting future sales calls, Intelligent Alternatives also coughed up $20,000 in damages.
