Guides

When the consent doesn't hold up: TCPA cases from purchased insurance leads

Updated October 4, 2026

When you dial a lead you bought, you are the one placing the call. If the consent behind that lead doesn't cover you, the claim can land on your agency, even though someone else collected the form.

Can an insurance agent be sued over leads they bought?

Yes. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lets the person who got the call or text sue. Two parts of the law matter most to lead buyers. One covers calls and texts made with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice. The other covers numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.

For a sales call or text to a cell phone made with that technology, federal rules require the shopper's prior express written consent. That means a signed agreement, and an electronic signature counts. It has to clearly authorize the seller to contact the shopper that way at that number, and it has to say that agreeing isn't a condition of buying anything.

The key word is "seller." A form that names other companies, or only "our partners," may prove that the shopper agreed to hear from someone. It doesn't prove they agreed to hear from you.

What the damages look like

Each call or text without valid consent can cost $500, and up to $1,500 if a court finds the violation willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)). The count is per call or text, so a lead worked with 12 calls and texts can mean 12 separate violations.

Claims are often filed as class actions, which add up those amounts across everyone who got the same kind of call. The TCPA has no filing deadline of its own, so courts apply the federal four-year default (28 U.S.C. § 1658(a)). A lead you called this year can turn into a claim years from now, long after the vendor's records are gone.

Who is liable: the agent, the carrier, or the vendor?

The TCPA applies directly to whoever places the call. If your agency dials the lead, that's you. Plaintiffs also go after the companies above the caller, such as a carrier, arguing that the caller was acting on its behalf.

Hossfeld v. Allstate (7th Cir., June 2026) shows how that second kind of claim can fail. Two Allstate agents hired a telemarketing vendor. That vendor, without telling Allstate or the agents, hired another company, which placed the calls. The court held that Allstate was not vicariously liable, because Allstate never authorized anyone to hire the company that actually made the calls.

That ruling was about the company at the top of a broken chain. It doesn't address the business that places the calls itself. When you buy a lead and call it yourself, there is no chain between you and the shopper.

The lead vendor can be sued too, and you may have a contract claim against it. Neither stops the shopper's claim against you.

Three cases where the consent didn't hold up

Each of these turned on whether the form the shopper filled out covered the company that ended up calling. Class certification and settlements are not findings of liability.

Ward v. Liberty Mutual (D. Mass., June 2026)

Ward v. Liberty Mutual involves leads that came from All Web Leads, which got them from Next Level Media's website. That site didn't list Liberty Mutual. The court certified a class of about 20,000 people, with exposure of about $30 million. Liberty Mutual sued All Web Leads for $1.36 million, and that suit settled.

Mantha v. QuoteWizard (D. Mass.)

Mantha v. QuoteWizard ended in a $19 million settlement covering 66,693 phone numbers. The consent had been collected on partner websites, and those consent pages didn't name QuoteWizard.

FTC v. Fluent (2023)

FTC v. Fluent ended with a $2.5 million civil penalty and a ban on robocalls. Fluent collected "consent" on reward and job-offer websites and sold more than 620 million leads. The people on those forms were after a prize or a job.

What a purchased lead needs to hold up

A vendor's website that says "TCPA compliant" tells you nothing about a given lead. Before you call, you want to be able to show these things for each lead:

• The form covers you. Your agency is named on the form, or on a partner list linked from it that included you when the shopper agreed.
• The exact words. The consent text, word for word, with the time, IP address, and page URL.
• A third-party record. A TrustedForm certificate or Jornaya LeadiD that you checked and kept in your own account. See TrustedForm vs. Jornaya and how to check a TrustedForm certificate.
• A real quote form. The shopper asked about auto or home insurance, not a sweepstakes, survey, or free sample.
• The right contact methods. The consent covers calls and texts, and the dialer or prerecorded voice you plan to use.
• Scrubs and stop requests. The number was checked against the Do Not Call list, and anyone who says stop is taken off your list right away.

For the history of the "one seller at a time" rule and why naming still matters, read the one-to-one consent rule.

Should the lead vendor indemnify you?

Indemnification is a promise in the contract that the vendor will cover your losses, such as legal fees and settlements, if its leads turn out not to have the consent it said they had. It's worth asking for. It also has limits:

• It doesn't stop the lawsuit against you. You still get sued, and you still have to respond.
• It's only worth what the vendor can pay when the claim arrives, which may be years later.
• You may have to sue the vendor to collect. Liberty Mutual's claim against All Web Leads was a separate lawsuit.

Along with an indemnity, get these in writing:

1. A promise that every lead has prior express written consent that covers your agency.
2. The consent text and a TrustedForm certificate or Jornaya LeadiD delivered with each lead, not on request.
3. How long the vendor keeps its consent records, and that it will produce them if you're sued.
4. Where the leads come from, and whether any come from sweepstakes, survey, or reward sites.

For a full list, see questions to ask an insurance lead vendor.

The short version

Your best protection is a consent record you checked before you dialed and kept in your own account. A vendor's promise helps after something goes wrong. The record helps you avoid calling a lead that was never yours to call.

VeroQuote sends the consent text word for word with every lead, along with a TrustedForm certificate, a Jornaya LeadiD, or both, so you can check who the shopper agreed to hear from before you call. You can see the fields in a sample lead record.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.