By Tori Guidry
BELLEVILLE V . FLORIDA
NOT
BUYING IT
Court Shows Healthy
Skepticism Of TCPA Plaintiff ’ s Claims Against Insurance
Telemarketer
By Tori Guidry
SO THE Honorable Magistrate Judge Maynard is a name folks should remember .
He just issued an interesting ruling in Belleville v . Florida Insurance Services , Inc . 2024 WL 2342337 ( S . D . Fl . May 23 , 2024 ), and I wish more courts would adopt his reasoning .
In Belleville , the Plaintiff sued the Defendant — who allegedly went by Senior Life Services ( SLS )— related to calls for final expense and health insurance intended for a different person , Phyllis Pearson .
Plaintiff alleges he ’ s been receiving calls intended for Pearson for years — lead buyers might want to scrub their list for this person !— and that he received four calls from different numbers he believed to be telemarketing calls from Senior Life Services .
But there was a problem . Plaintiff didn ’ t actually allege facts linking the calls to SLS .
On the last call , he feigned interest and was connected to SLS , but on the first three calls , he said he wasn ’ t interested and hung up .
SLS moved to dismiss , arguing it was not liable for the first three calls and that Plaintiff cannot bring a claim under 227 ( c ) based on the single confirmed call he received . The Court agreed .
Skeptical of Plaintiff ’ s assertions that the first three calls came from SLS , the Court noted the following :
“ Plaintiff attempts to link the four calls to Defendant by noting the callers were all calling to provide an insurance quote , they began with the same sales pitch , and upon calling back each of the phone numbers ,
the same busy signal was produced . Id . ¶ 52 . However , Plaintiff does not describe the sales pitch or how the busy signal links the callers . 4 The lone facts in the Amended Complaint that link the first three calls to Defendant , are the callers asking for Phyllis Pearson , and providing an insurance quote . Id . ¶¶ 41 , 44 , 47 , 50 . However , Plaintiff admittedly has been receiving calls asking for Phyllis Pearson for approximately three years . Id . ¶ 36 . Further , a telemarketer asking if they can provide an insurance quote is like a police officer asking if you know why you are being pulled over . It is a common practice that fails to narrow down Defendant in any way .
“ In his Response , Plaintiff argues an additional reason the calls are linked to Defendant . Plaintiff argues that the four calls all came ‘ within a few days of each other .’ DE 18 at 3 . Specifically ,
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