State Farm Denies Vicarious Liability for Calls Alleged in Amended TCPA Complaint

State Farm can’t be held vicariously liable for the alleged insurance solicitation phone calls in plaintiff Thomas Gebka’s amended Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint, said the insurer's answer Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-05546) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. Gebka filed his amended complaint Dec. 23, but briefing was held in abeyance as the parties awaited the decision from U.S. District Judge John Kness on State Farm’s motion to dismiss. The judge denied the motion July 12 (see 2307120033). No State Farm “direct agency, sub-agency, apparent authority, or ratification theory of liability” supports Gebka’s TCPA claims against State Farm, said the insurer. The alleged calls weren’t made on behalf of State Farm, “especially when the same lead information was also sold to State Farm’s competitors,” it said. Gebka’s claims also are barred “in whole or in part by the acts and/or omissions of one or more third parties over which State Farm had no control,” it said.