A proposed settlement has been reached in a case in which the financing unit of Nissan Motors was accused of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by calling the cell phones of individuals who did not have accounts with the creditor using an automatic telephone dialing system without first obtaining the proper consent.
A copy of the motion for approval of the settlement in the case of Aram Terteryan, Tatyana Davtyan, and Marine Davtyan v. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. can be accessed by clicking here.
Nissan will pay $2.2 million to settle the suit, in which three plaintiffs who did not have accounts with the company were contacted. The class, which includes anyone who received a non-emergency call from Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. via an ATDS who were not customers of the defendant, could number as many as 10,000 individuals, according to the proposed settlement.
Individuals who opt to participate in the settlement will receive between $75 and $250 each. The three named plaintiffs will receive $10,000 each. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs will receive $732,600 — equal to one-third of the settlement amount.
The plaintiffs were individuals who received calls from the defendant seeking to connect with an individual who had not paid his or her car loan. The plaintiffs could have been references for or acquaintances of the individual the defendant was looking for, but did not have a pre-existing relationship with the defendant and did not provide consent to be contacted on their cell phones. One of the plaintiffs received two calls from a unit of the defendant, one of which was a voicemail.
