Seventh Circuit Moves Vicarious Liability Claims Forward

Reversing dismissal, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit found that a plaintiff had sufficiently pled allegations of vicarious liability to keep his Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) suit alive.

Christopher Bilek received two unauthorized robocalls. A prerecorded message allegedly solicited health insurance and instructed Bilek to press 1 to be connected to a representative. When he pressed 1, Bilek was allegedly connected to a live agent who provided a quote for health insurance underwritten by Federal Insurance Company (FIC) and facilitated by Health Insurance Innovations (HII).

Bilek sued FIC and HII for running afoul of the TCPA and Illinois's state analog on a vicarious liability theory, claiming that the defendants' agents generated the calls.