Class Action Alleges WellCare Health Plans Placed Unlawful Robocalls

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WellCare Health Plans, Inc. faces a proposed class action lawsuit over its alleged practice of placing automated calls to consumers who never consented to be contacted or whose numbers were listed on the National Do Not Call Registry.

According to the 21-page case, WellCare has violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by using “an artificial or prerecorded voice” to place calls to consumers’ cell phones despite having never obtained their consent to do so. Moreover, the federal law also prohibits the defendant’s apparent practice of placing more than one call within a 12-month period to individuals whose telephone numbers are listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, the lawsuit, filed August 4 in New Jersey federal court, alleges.

The plaintiff, a New Jersey resident, claims the Tampa-based insurance company placed a call to his cell phone on February 5, 2019 and left a voicemail in Spanish for someone referred to in the complaint as “F.E.” or “F.H.” Per the case, the plaintiff does not speak Spanish or know anyone named F.E. or F.H., who is identified in the lawsuit by only their initials given they might be a minor.

The lawsuit says the initial voicemail left on the plaintiff’s phone translates to the following:

According to the case, the plaintiff received in February and March at least 11 similar voicemails, some in English and some in Spanish, seeking F.E. or F.H. The calls, which are alleged to have continued through December 2019, sometimes referenced services, including an educational health program, preventive care program, dental plan and Healthy Living Program, provided by WellCare, the suit says.

The complaint goes on to allege that the plaintiff in November 2019 received at least two text messages from WellCare in Spanish encouraging him to get his flu shot.

The plaintiff alleges that given the nature of the messages he received, he was unable to tell whether they were for telemarketing, debt collection, “some combination of both, or neither.” No matter the purpose of the calls, however, the plaintiff never provided WellCare with “consent of any kind,” much less prior express consent, to receive any non-emergency autodialed calls from the insurer, the complaint claims. Thus, the defendant was prohibited by the TCPA from placing the calls at issue, the lawsuit charges.

The case adds that the plaintiff’s cell phone number has been listed on the National Do Not Call Registry since January 2007.

Per the suit, it is WellCare’s responsibility to demonstrate that the plaintiff and proposed class members provided prior express consent within the meaning of the TCPA to receive autodialed calls.

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