State Farm ‘Vicariously Liable’ for TCPA Violations, Says Plaintiff

Plaintiff Thomas Gebka’s amended complaint “sufficiently pleads” that State Farm is “vicariously liable” for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations it’s alleged to have committed, said Gebka’s opposition Mondau (docket 1:22-cv-05546) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago to the insurer’s Jan. 6 motion to dismiss (see 2301090024). At the “behest” of State Farm, “myriad” State Farm agencies made prerecorded voice and other telemarketing calls to numbers on the national do not call registry to generate leads via vendors that State Farm “encouraged its agencies to use and recommended they use,” said Gebka’s response. The State Farm agencies “had State Farm’s actual authority to appoint subagents for telemarketing and soliciting” prospective insurance customers, it said. Gebka has standing “because he alleges he received seven unsolicited telemarketing calls that invaded his privacy rights, which easily satisfies Article III,” it said. State Farm “was extensively involved in its agencies’ operations, requiring them to follow detailed standards it set and could change at any time without notice,” it said. State Farm also had “the right to monitor their compliance with its standards and terminate the relationship for noncompliance,” it said.