Court Certifies 23,000-Member Wrong-Number Robocall Class Against Humana

What happened

The certified class, according to TCPAWorld, includes all persons in the United States to whom Humana placed, or caused to be placed, a prerecorded voice call to a cell number not assigned to a current Humana account holder, from four years before the case was filed through certification.

What the court held

1. Numerosity from the defendant's data. Humana argued the plaintiff had not identified actual non-customers. The court determined that accounts marked with "wrong #" or similar coding were enough.
2. Common questions. The court identified common issues, such as whether Humana made non-emergency prerecorded calls to non-customers, whether it used a prerecorded voice, and whether the number was a cell phone.
3. Imperfect data is not fatal. Humana argued wrong-number codes could reflect typos, misdials, customers avoiding calls or incorrect reports. The court would not ignore the plain meaning of a "wrong number" notation and said declarations could be used during the claims process to identify class members.

The exposure

With more than 23,000 class members, one call each at $500 to $1,500 per call works out to roughly $11.5 million to $34.5 million in potential statutory damages. That is our arithmetic, not a court finding. Humana has not been found liable.

Why it matters

A company's own call notes can become the plaintiff's class list. A "wrong number" disposition that does not stop future prerecorded calls is proof of the violation.

What this means for you

1. Make wrong-number dispositions final. Suppress the number from prerecorded campaigns immediately.
2. Use the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Reassigned Numbers Database for numbers obtained long ago.
3. Audit disposition codes. Inconsistent codes will not defeat certification.