Telemarketers engage in tactics that annoy many of the consumers they contact. As a result, laws have been passed that regulate telemarketing practices. While the government rarely takes action against misbehaving telemarketers, important laws give consumers the right to sue telemarketers who contacted them in ways that violate government regulations.

In many cases, consumers decide to file class action lawsuits against telemarketers. A class action allows consumers to join their claims in a single lawsuit against the same telemarketer. That forces telemarketers to take lawsuits seriously. Individual lawsuits rarely influence a telemarketer’s conduct, but class actions often result in the telemarketer’s agreement to stop violating the law.

A federal law allows consumers to sue for up to $500 each time they receive an illegal telemarketing call. That amount can be tripled if the violation was intentional. By joining their claims in a class action lawsuit, consumers can collectively sue telemarketers for millions of dollars. That gives telemarketers a strong incentive to stop making annoying calls.

Telephone Solicitation Violations

When you need to get up early in the morning, nothing is more annoying than a telemarketer who calls you just as you’re falling asleep. That’s why federal law prohibits telemarketers from making a sales or advertising call to your residential telephone before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. When a telemarketer calls you outside of those hours, you have the right to sue. 

You also have the right to take legal action if you put your name on a "Do Not Call" list and the telemarketer makes an uninvited sales or marketing call to your residential phone at any time of the day or night. Whether or not you are on a "Do Not Call" list, telemarketers are prohibited from making a sales or advertising call to your cellphone.

Robocall Violations

Additional laws restrict a telemarketer's ability to make "robocalls," or calls that are dialed by an automatic dialing system that is capable of dialing stored numbers or of generating and calling random numbers. If you answer the phone and hear a pause before a telemarketer comes on the line, the telemarketer has probably used an automatic dialing system.

Unless you have an established business relationship with the caller, sales and marketing calls cannot be made to your residential telephone line or cellphone number if they consist of a recorded message or an artificial voice. Whether or not they are telemarketers, for-profit businesses (including debt collection agencies) are generally prohibited from calling or texting your cellphone by using an automatic dialer.

Fax Violations

A telemarketer who sends you advertising or a solicitation by fax is nearly always breaking the law. No business can send you an advertisement by fax unless you consented to receive it or have a prior relationship with that business. 

Identifying the Telemarketer

To sue a telemarketer, you first need to identify the caller. If a live person calls you to make a telephone solicitation, the law requires the caller to provide his or her name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is made, and a telephone number at which that person or entity can be contacted.  Write down that information. If the caller does not volunteer it, ask for it.

If you receive a robocall, write down any information that the recording provides about its source, as well as any telephone numbers that the recording asks you to call. The telemarketer may be traced through those telephone numbers. If a live telephone solicitor refuses to provide a telephone number or if a recorded message does not provide one, save the caller’s number on your caller ID or use your telephone system’s “call back” feature to identify the number that called you.

Once you have the caller's number, internet searches will usually help you identify the telemarketing company. An attorney can also help you do that.

Keep a record of all the calls you receive from the telemarketer. Write down the time and date on which you received them and make notes about what was said during the call, including the identifying information mentioned above.

Finding a Class Action Attorney

You can sue a telemarketer in small claims court, but most telemarketers do everything they can to discourage those suits. You might be threatened with a baseless countersuit, or told that the case will be appealed to a higher court where representing yourself becomes inordinately difficult. The telemarketer may also deny making the call, or may claim that you consented to receiving sales calls.

Suing in small claims court can be burdensome and stressful. Finding a class action attorney to handle the case, not only for you but for other consumers who received similar calls, relieves you of that burden. Some of the best employment lawyers can handle anything from California break laws to telemarketing class action suits.  If you become the class representative, you may be entitled to a larger share of the settlement to compensate you for the time you spend finding a lawyer and participating in the lawsuit.

Once you’ve documented the violations and identified the telemarketer, ask a class action attorney who handles consumer claims to review your case. Since class action litigation is complex, choose a law firm that has experience representing consumers who bring class action claims. Your attorney can explain how class actions work and can help you decide whether you should act as the class representative who brings the lawsuit on behalf of other consumers who were bothered by the telemarketer.