Oregon Department of Justice

Attorney General Hardy Myers today filed court actions against eight violators of the "No Call List" law in Multnomah, Yamhill, Benton and Marion counties. Ranging from insurance companies to sellers of adjustable beds, the companies called subscribers on the Oregon "No Call List," which has been illegal with few exemptions since the law went into effect in January 2000. The law limits "cold calls" by telemarketers to solicit sales.

"Oregon has developed a no-nonsense reputation when it comes to prosecuting violators of the "No Call" law," Myers said. "We now have more than 54,000 Oregon subscribers and 884 telemarketers receiving the lists. Our citizens likes this law and our office intends to vigilantly make it work for them."

Named in Assurances of Voluntary Compliance are:

• Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Chicago, Illinois, insurance
• First Fidelity Lending Corporation, Portland, property financing
• First Security Trust Services and Robert Barrere, a trustee, Carlsbad, California, financial services
• Krane Products of South Florida, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida,
• Lobkov, Yevgenty, (dba E.N.L. Kirby), Portland, vacuum cleaners
• Success Marketing, Inc. (dba Craftmatic), Aurora, Colorado, adjustable, electronic beds.
• Telemarketing Results, Inc., Mound, Minnesota, buying and selling telemarketing leads
• Vlastos, Richard T. (dba Richard's Kirby), McMinnville, household cleaning products

All eight companies agreed to not violate the state Unlawful Trade Practices Act and the "No Call List" law and paid a total of $31,000 to the consumer protection and education fund.

Several companies had signed earlier assurances with the Department of Justice including Craftmatic Adjustable Beds and Krane Products. Richard's Kirby agrees to no longer telemarket and First Security Trust is out of business.

An additional Assurance was filed today against Stardust Credit Corporation of Fullerton, California that does business as Castleview Home Loans, a mortgage and credit lending institution. Stardust Credit officials had signed an earlier Assurance with Justice concerning "No Call" List violations and had established a functioning compliance program.

Subsequent to the agreement, the company violated the "do not call back" section of the consumer protection laws when a solicitor for the company called a consumer who had already told them not to call. The company left a solicitation on the message machine and the consumer had to call a second time, telling them not to call their home. Under the agreement, the company is prohibited from leaving solicitations on answering machines of Oregon consumers.

Oregonians wanting to register their residential telephone numbers on the List may call the List Administrator, Oregon No Call, and ask to have a registration form mailed to their home. Consumers and telemarketers may register online at www.ornocall.com.

Consumers wanting information on the "No Call" List law or other consumer issues may call the Attorney General's consumer hotline at (503) 378-4320 (Salem area only), (503) 229-5576 (Portland area only) or toll-free at 1-877-877-9392. The Department of Justice is online at www.doj.state.or.us.