A married couple, who brought a harrassment complaint against Bank of America has been awarded over $1 million in compensation. Nelson and Joyce Coniglio, of Tampa, Florida, received more than 700 automated calls after they fell behind on mortgage loan payments in 2009. In a complaint filed in federal court in July, attorneys for the couple said they had been on the receiving end of ‘patterns of outrageous, abusive and harassing conduct’ by a subsidiary of Bank of America. The Coniglios, who are both 69 and have been married for 45 years, also received ‘threatening collection letters asserting false and misleading information,’ the complaint said. Over the years, the couple had sent multiple cease-and-desist letters from lawyers asking the bank to stop, but the robocalls – sometimes up to five a day – continued. At their wits ends, the couple sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. Bank of America, which lost the case because it missed the deadline to oppose the lawsuit, maintains that the calls were to help the Coniglios avoid foreclosure
