Keller Williams hit with another telemarketing class-action
After reaching a $40 million settlement in a separate case a year ago, the brokerage faces new allegations of sending unsolicited text messages.
Keller Williams Realty is facing a new class action lawsuit involving telemarketing.
The complaint, filed April 2 in the U.S. District Court Western District of Texas, alleges the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by making two telemarketing calls to consumers without consent, including to numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry.
Details of the suit: The complaint was filed by Mark Ortega, who said he received the unsolicited telemarketing text messages last month from Julia Jordan, a real estate agent with the KW franchise The Woodlands & Magnolia.
Through an attorney, Ortega sent a letter to Keller Williams Realty asking for damages, which the brokerage denied, according to court documents.
The complaint claims that Ortega was harmed "in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy, occupied his phone line, and disturbed the use and enjoyment of his phone."
The class action request would include all persons in the U.S. on the Do Not Call Registry for at least 31 days who received more than one telemarketing call from the defendant in a 12-month period within the last four years.
The claim also includes a Texas Telephone Solicitation Act class for anyone who is on that registry and received a sales call in the past two years. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
What Keller Williams had to say: Spokesperson Darryl Frost said in an email that the company is aware of the filing and investigating the allegations.
"However, the face of the complaint indicates that the alleged messages were sent by a real estate agent affiliated with one of our franchisees and not by Keller Williams Realty, Inc.," Frost said.
"As a matter of policy, we require our franchisees and their agents to comply with all laws, including the TCPA and Do Not Call rules and applicable state telemarketing laws."
Previous telemarketing litigation: In January 2023, Keller Williams agreed to pay $40 million in claims to consumers to close another class-action lawsuit related to unsolicited calls and text messages.