JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit Thursday against two Branson vacation telemarketing firms and their owner for allegedly calling Missourians on the state's no call list.
The Springfield-based Branson Vacation Land LLC, The Buzz Marketing and Communications LLC and Kim Bascom, the companies' owner, allegedly placed at least 279,419 calls to Missouri residents on the no call list during a six-month period last year. The lawsuit also names the Arizona-based Nationwide Marketing Services Inc. and the Florida-based Global Matrix Media Inc. as defendants. Nationwide Marketing and Global Matrix allegedly sold leads to Bascom knowing the leads contained numbers on the no call list.
Koster's lawsuit is the first brought by his office that seeks to hold lead list companies responsible for violations of telemarketing laws.
"We believe that these telemarketing firms together account for hundreds of thousands of no call violations," Koster said. "My office will continue to act swiftly in these cases to hold both the firms placing the calls and the firms supplying the lists responsible."
Koster's lawsuit requests that the court prohibit the companies from making future calls to Missourians on the no call list, in addition to monetary civil penalties and reimbursement for attorney and court costs.
Missouri AG files lawsuit against Branson vacation telemarketing firms for no call violations
