A major insurance broker is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly bombarding consumers with unsolicited pre-recorded calls. On June 5, 2024, Ronald Lightfoot filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against SelectQuote, Inc., accusing the company of violating federal telemarketing laws.
The lawsuit claims that SelectQuote initiated a nationwide telemarketing campaign to promote its insurance products by making millions of unauthorized pre-recorded calls to consumers' cell phones. These calls were made without obtaining prior consent from the recipients, who were neither customers nor had any prior interaction with SelectQuote. According to Lightfoot, this practice is a clear violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits such unsolicited communications.
SelectQuote, known for offering life, auto, home, and medical insurance, allegedly hired third-party lead generators to carry out these telemarketing activities. The lead generators used pre-approved scripts and transferred "qualified" leads to SelectQuote's call centers. One such script featured a message from "Ashley," a health center representative promoting updated Medicare plans and additional benefits. This marketing strategy led to widespread consumer aggravation and privacy violations.
On October 20, 2023, Lightfoot received one of these pre-recorded calls on his cell phone without having given any consent. This incident prompted him to file the lawsuit on behalf of himself and other affected individuals across the United States. The proposed class includes all persons who received similar unsolicited pre-recorded calls from or on behalf of SelectQuote.
Lightfoot's complaint seeks several forms of relief from the court: an injunction to stop SelectQuote's unlawful telemarketing activities, statutory damages for each TCPA violation (with potential treble damages due to willful misconduct), reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, and any other relief deemed just by the court.
The case is being handled by attorneys Eli Wade-Scott from Edelson PC and David A. Neiman from Romanucci & Blandin LLC. The case has been assigned Case No. 1:24-cv-04673 in front of an as-yet unnamed judge in the Northern District of Illinois.