A suit challenging the validity of a state telemarketing do-not-call list law on the basis of free speech and protection of U.S. citizenship privileges has been filed in Indiana.
It was filed last Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Indianapolis by four nonprofit groups, the National Coalition of Prayer, Kentucky-Indiana chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Indiana Troopers Association and the state’s Association of Police Chiefs.
The four groups contend the law violates the free speech and association provisions of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment as it discriminates against nonprofit groups that hire professional telemarketers instead of using their own employees or members to raise funds through telephone calls.
They also maintain that the state does not independently verify, or require proof of identity from anyone requesting that a number be placed on the list.
Once on, consumers faced difficulty in removing their telephone numbers from the list, should they choose to do so, according to the complaint. This would have caused a new telephone customer receiving a number previously placed on the list to be ineligible to receive telemarketing calls.
The Indiana do-not-call law “prohibits Plaintiffs from contacting certain of their supporters. The Act does so despite the fact that these persons have chosen to support Palintiffs in the past and may wish to do so again in the future.”
The Indiana law also prohibits organizations from calling their own customers or supporters if their names appear on the state
