Attorney general sues local telemarketing firms

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster last week filed suit against two Springfield-based vacation telemarketing firms and their owner, claiming the companies made more than 250,000 calls to Missouri residents on the state's no-call list.

The lawsuit alleges Branson Vacation Land LLC, The Buzz Marketing and Communications LLC and owner Kim Bascom violated Missouri's no-call law during a six-month period in 2012, according to a news release.

The suit also claims that Arizona-based Nationwide Marketing Services Inc. and Florida-based Global Matrix Media Inc. sold leads to Bascom with knowledge that the contained numbers were on Missouri's no-call list. Koster said this is the first time a lawsuit filed by the attorney general's office has taken on lead list companies allegedly responsible for telemarketing violations.

“We believe that these telemarketing firms together account for hundreds of thousands of no-call violations,” Koster said in the release. “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.”

The suit asks the court to prohibit the company from making further calls to Missourians on the no-call list, as well as monetary civil penalties that include reimbursement for costs incurred by the state for investigating and pursuing the case.