Do Not Call violations have been leveled against a third real estate industry company; this one will be the second mortgage firm charged with violating telemarketing rules.

On Jan. 12, 2004 California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a complaint against New Smyrna Beach, Florida-based L.M.A. Marketing, Inc., doing business as Mortgage Concepts, for violating national "Do Not Call" laws, allegedly by pretending to conduct surveys in order to contact California consumers about refinancing their mortgages.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, seeks nearly a half-million dollars in damages and penalties following complaints from more than 250 Californians. Consumers said that when they told the company representative they were on the federal Do Not Call list, the representative said the firm is exempt from the federal law because it is conducting a survey.

The complaint alleges that since November 2003, the company placed automated calls to California consumers to play a prerecorded message. In the recording, the company asks questions relating to whether the consumer is interested in refinancing. If the consumer presses the correct buttons, a company representative calls the consumer back to pitch the company's refinancing service, the suit alleges.

"Federal law makes it clear that commercial calls are off limits to consumers who have placed their names on the national Do Not Call Registry," Lockyer said.

More than 50 million telephone numbers have been registered with the federal Do Not Call registry, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Companies convicted of violations can be fined up to $11,000 per violation.

Home improvement matters and some real estate industry marketing efforts are often found at the top of consumer complaint lists.

"This lawsuit should serve as a warning to telemarketers who think they can evade this important consumer protection law by pretending to conduct a 'survey' while harassing Californians in the privacy of their homes," he added.

The complaint alleges the company violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (Telemarketing Act) by placing telemarketing calls to phone numbers listed on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Do Not Call Registry. The TCPA allows the attorney general to seek $500 in damages per violation -- $1,500 for willful violations. Under the Telemarketing Act, the attorney general can seek actual damages, restitution and other compensation on behalf of California consumers illegally contacted by the company.

The complaint also carries charges under California's Business and Professions Code Section 17200, for allegedly engaging in unfair business practices. With a conviction, the state law provides for civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each violation of the telemarketing laws.

The complaint also asks the court to permanently enjoin the company from continuing its unlawful activities and to reimburse the attorney general's office for the costs of the investigation and prosecution.

Officials charged with enforcing federal and state Do Not Call laws initially promised tough enforcement of the laws and appear to be following through.

Two other realty firms charged

In the first federal level Do Not Call action, on Dec. 18, 2003, the FTC cited CPM Funding of Irvine, CA and doing business as California Pacific Mortgage, for violations of the federal Do Not Call registry.

The FCC also threatened a $11,000 fine per violation, as prescribed by the law, if the company continued to contact consumers who have placed their telephone numbers on the federal registry of phone numbers of people who do not want to receive telemarketing calls.

Another California company, Hayward-based, American Home Craft, Inc., a home improvement firm, was the first company charged with violating federal Do Not Call rules, but charges were filed at the state level.

Lockyer, on Nov. 5, 2003, filed the civil complaint against American Home Craft in the U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.

That company was also charged with making calls to people who had placed their numbers on the federal Do Not Call list.

Published: January 21, 2004

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.