DirecTV Denies N.M. Plaintiff’s Allegations of TCPA Wrongdoing

Ruben Escano seeks to recover statutory damages for DirecTV’s automatically dialed and unsolicited telemarketing calls, and to enjoin such future calls, said his Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint May 9 in the 6th Judicial District Court in Grant County, New Mexico, removed Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-00594) to U.S. District Court for New Mexico in Las Cruces. The Silver City, New Mexico, resident, also alleges that DirecTV’s calls violated the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act. DirecTV placed at least eight unsolicited calls to Escano’s cellphone, though his number has been listed on the national do not call registry for more than a decade, said his complaint. The DNC registry “is available to telemarketers wishing to operate within the law,” it said. The calls resulted in voice mails being left on Escano’s cellphone, it said. All the voice mails “were made with a prerecorded message with the same script,” it said. The calls trumpeted an offer of 50% off an existing DirecTV subscription, but the plaintiff never had a DirecTV account, said the complaint. Escano alleges that DirecTV is at least vicariously liable for the calls at issue because the defendant engaged with an agent to place the calls, it said. Escano reserves the right to add that agent as a party, if discovery reveals that DirecTV used an agent, it said. DirecTV’s telemarketing operation used “predictive dialer technology,” said the complaint. A predictive dialer is a type of automatic telephone dialing system that predicts the maximum number of phone subscribers that can be called at once “in order for the call to be answered within a set period of time by a live phone representative,” it said. The calls caused the plaintiff “concrete injuries in fact,” said the complaint. They aggravated him, disrupted his days, “and required him to divert attention away from his work and personal life to tend to and answer such unwarranted intrusions of his time,” it said. DirecTV denies all of Escano’s allegations, said its notice of removal. DirecTV doesn’t waive “any claims, rights, defenses, or objections, including, without limitation, any challenges to personal jurisdiction, process, or service of process, or motion to compel arbitration,” it said.