Class Action Alleges Wakefield & Associates Covertly Records Calif. Debt Collection Calls Discussing Medical Care

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Wakefield & Associates, Inc. faces a proposed class action that alleges the debt collector has illegally recorded calls in California without the consent of the other party involved in the conversation. 

The 16-page privacy lawsuit claims the conversations recorded by Wakefield & Associates were subject to the protections granted by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in that the calls pertained to individuals’ medical conditions and care. 

“The California Penal Code is very clear in its prohibition against unauthorized recording without the consent of the other person to the conversation: ‘Every person who, intentionally and without the consent of all parties to a confidential communication, by means of any electronic amplifying or recording device, eavesdrops upon or records the confidential communication [violates this section],’” the complaint says, alleging abuses of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. 

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff’s minor son received medical services provided by American Medical Response sometime prior to July 2019, with the resulting debt transferred to the defendant sometime thereafter. Per the complaint, Wakefield & Associates records all of its collection calls, with inbound calls recorded from their outset. For outbound calls, the suit says, the defendant’s agents rely on a script to confirm the identity of the person on the other end. 

As part of the verification process, the defendant’s agent is to explain who they are and why they are calling, the case relays, claiming all of this happens prior to the recipient being told the call is recorded as a matter of policy. 

“This verification process can take over forty seconds before the warning is given,” the case says. “Very often the warning is not given at all, which is what happened to Plaintiff.”

On January 20, 2020, Wakefield & Associates placed an outbound call to the plaintiff’s cell phone, the suit says. According to the case, the defendant’s agent discussed medical assistance provided to the plaintiff and went on to talk about billing for the services and the man’s financial obligations to Wakefield.

The suit claims the content of the phone call between the plaintiff and defendant is considered “confidential” under HIPAA. The plaintiff was not advised at the beginning of the call that it was being recorded, nor did the man consent to the call being recorded, the lawsuit says. 

“Nonetheless, Defendant was in fact surreptitiously recording the entirety of the approximately one-minute-long phone conversation between Plaintiff and Defendant,” the suit claims.

As the lawsuit tells it, the defendant has thousands of delinquent accounts in California, many of which are related to medical debts. The case alleges the vast majority of debtors called by the defendant have never been warned that the communication is being recorded. 

Proposed class members may be entitled to up to $5,000 for each alleged violation of California’s privacy protections.

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