What You Need To Know
According to court documents, class members comprise the group of “All persons in California who received a telephone call between March 23, 2009 and May 1, 2012 from or on behalf of HSBC Card Services Inc. and whose call was recorded or monitored by or on behalf of HSBC.” Eligible class members have until August 28, 2017 to either opt out of the settlement or contest any section of the agreement. The award amount for each eligible class member depends on the number of recorded calls made, without the consent of consumers.
Class members have until August 28, 2017 to file a valid claim form. However, you do not need to send a claim form, if you received an email or a postcard informing you that filing a claim form is not necessary.
Federal law is clear about the illegality of companies recording customer phones, without the customer giving consent or hearing a message the calls are being recorded. California law has filled in the few holes discovered in federal statutes, as HSBC learned after reaching a class action settlement.
HSBC Card Services and HSBC Technology & Services will pay a little more than $13 million established in a settlement fund in settle allegations the two companies violated California law. The state law in California prohibits companies and non-profit organizations from recording phone calls, without gaining consent of clients and customers.
According to class counsel, the HSBC class action lawsuit claims the two HSBC companies made calls to consumers and monitored the calls, without customers granting approval of the monitoring. Plaintiffs allege both companies placed phone calls to converse about sensitive credit card account information. Class counsel for the plaintiffs charged both HSBC companies with the violation of the California Invasion Privacy Act. The California law forbids specific the “intentional recording of phone calls, without the consent of all parties involved in the conversation.” State law issues penalties of $5,000 per unapproved recording of a phone call.
Both HSBC companies continue to deny the allegations, but both companies agreed to the class action settlement to avoid the high cost of prolonged litigation.
Case name Medeiros, et al. v. HSBC Card Services Inc., et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-09093-JVS-AFM, Fanning, et al. v. HSBC Card Services Inc., et al., Case No. 12-cv000885-JVS-RNBx, and Lindgren v. HSBC Card Services Inc., et al., Case No. 14-cv-05615-JVS-RNBx, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has a final hearing scheduled for October 16, 2017. To learn more about the HSBC class action settlement, visit the case website at www.CACallRecordingLawsuit.com.
Class counsel consists of several law firms, including Hyde & Swigart, Altshuler Berzon LLP, Bailey and Gaylen, and the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman.
