Santa Clara, CA: Yelp is facing a potential privacy class action lawsuit alleging it violated California state law by recording cellphone calls of Yelp business customers to the company’s finance department, without the customers’ knowledge.
Filed by lead plaintiff Los Angeles resident David Schram, the suit claims San Francisco-based Yelp recorded his calls to them without providing an automated advisory at the beginning of the calls informing him that the call might be monitored or recorded. This is in violation of California Penal Code 632, which prohibits one party to a phone call from intentionally recording the conversation without the other party’s consent.
“It is defendant’s pattern and practice to record inbound and outbound calls made in California and throughout the United States without informing the individuals that the confidential communications are being recorded,” according to the complaint. “Plaintiff was unaware that the phone calls between him and defendant in California were recorded.”
The suit states that during the month of August, Schram made multiple outbound cellphone calls to Yelp’s finance department and the company recorded those calls without his consent and without offering an advisory that the call was being recorded. Schram only learned that the calls were recorded during a call later in August when a Yelp representative told him that collection and sales calls were recorded, the complaint states.
“Plaintiff neither knew, nor had any reason to know, that his calls were being secretly recorded by defendant,” Schram claims.
Schram states that he has the right to make his privacy claims long after Yelp began recording his calls, as he couldn’t have filed suit sooner because Yelp had a policy of not informing consumers that they are being recorded at the outset of their calls.
The proposed class includes all persons in California who’s inbound or outbound phone conversations were recorded by Yelp without their consent on their cellphones within a year prior to the filing of the complaint. Schram said he doesn’t know how many members are in the proposed class, but believes the number is “in the tens of thousands, if not more.”
“Californians have a constitutional right to privacy,” the complaint states. “Moreover, the California Supreme Court has definitively linked the constitutionally protected right to privacy within the purpose, intent and specific protections of the Privacy Act, including specifically, Penal Code 632.”
Schram is seeking punitive and statutory damages of $5,000 per violation of the code or treble actual damages per violation, whichever is greater, and fines of $2,500 per violation.
Schram is represented by Todd M. Friedman and Adrian R. Bacon of The Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC. The case is David Schram et al. v. Yelp Inc. and Does 1 through 100, case number BC652472, in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles.
