The Sports Authority Florida, Inc. has had a $54,750 fine levied against it by Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson for violations of telemarketing laws. A circuit court judge in Orlando ruled in favor of the Departments motion for summary judgment, leaving the company with 30 days to pay the fine.
The Departments Division of Consumer Services began investigating the business after receiving complaints from citizens about getting pre-recorded sales messages. Florida law prohibits the use of automated systems dialing numbers and leaving a pre-recorded message when a connection is made. This law applies to all citizens whether they are on the state or federal “Do Not Call” list or not. The Department included 73 complaints in its lawsuit.
The judge ordered Sports Authority Florida, Inc. to halt the practice and ordered a civil penalty of $54,750.00.
“We continue to aggressively pursue violations of Floridas telemarketing law and I hope that businesses will get the message that this will not be tolerated,” Bronson said. “Homeowners have the right to not be inundated with sales calls and getting an impersonal, unwanted prerecorded message adds insult to injury.”
The legal action against The Sports Authority Florida, Inc. will continue. The Department has also sued for 77 violations of Floridas Do Not Call list. The judge decided to handle the issues separately because while there was no question the pre-recorded calls were made, the Sports Authority is contesting the Do Not Call violations.
The Department administers the states Do Not Call list which prohibits businesses from telemarketing to people on the list. One exception is when a business has a previous relationship with the consumer, which is the point of contention in the second part of the lawsuit.
