Los Angeles, CA: A Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action lawsuit has been filed against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. alleging the automaker gave customer information to Sirius XM Holdings Inc., which made a number of unsolicited calls to the plaintiff's cellphone in violation to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Brian Trenz claims he and others were victims of an information-sharing agreement between Toyota and Sirius. The alleged agreement enables Toyota to share customer data with Sirius in exchange for temporary free trials of Sirius' radio entertainment services in new and preowned cars Toyota sells. The lawsuit claims that Sirius then used that information to make unauthorized calls to Trenz' cellphone, which is a violation of the TCPA.
"irius makes these telemarketing calls in order to convert the recent purchasers of these Toyota vehicles into paid subscribers of Sirius,"according to the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, Trenz bought a Chevy truck from a Texas Toyota dealership in September 2014, after which, the plaintiff alleges, Sirius made more than 30 calls to his cellphone using an automatic dialing system, in violation of the TCPA. Trenzclaims that none of the sales documents from the Toyota dealership included a warning that Trenz' information might be given to a third-party like Sirius, and Sirius never sought or received his consent for the call. When Trenz asked Sirius call representatives how they obtained his information, they were allegedly forthright about having obtained it from Toyota, the lawsuit states.
Similarly, Trenz claimed a Toyota dealership employee assured him it was "common knowledge"that the information would be passed along. According to the lawsuit, Trenz was unaware of a free trial of Sirius' services included in the purchase of his truck, and did not become aware of the availability of the service until he began receiving the calls. Further, Trenz claims that Sirius radio never worked in his vehicle, and he never listened to it.
Even though Sirius is responsible for the calls, Toyota is vicariously liable for the TCPA claims because the company provided the customer information, the complaint states.
The suit seeks certification of a nationwide class consisting of anyone who received unsolicited calls from Sirius in the four years prior to the complaint, regardless if they first bought a car from a Toyota dealership. In addition, the suit seeks a separate nationwide subclass of individuals who first bought a new or preowned car from a Toyota dealership with a free Sirius trial and received unsolicited calls from the company in the last four years.
Trenz is represented by Kira M. Rubel of The Law Offices of Kira M. Rubel. The suit is Trenz v. Sirus XM Holdings, Inc. et al, case number 3:15-cv-00044, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
