Steve Baus voice deepfake — Nov 2026

A consumer named Steve Baus has initiated a class action lawsuit against Allstate, the Hardin Agency, and InboundCD, alleging the use of unauthorized AI-generated voice calls for lead generation. The litigation, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, centers on claims that the defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Consumer Electronic Messaging Act (CEMA).

What happened

In November 2022, Steve Baus began receiving unsolicited outbound calls pitching insurance services. The calls were placed by the Hardin Agency using a platform known as InboundCD, which operated under the name Consumer Insurance Association. These automated calls claimed to work with major insurance providers, including Allstate, State Farm, and Farmers.

During one interaction, a representative identified as "Glenn" from the Hardin Agency reportedly admitted to Baus that the initial contact was an "AI prerecorded" call. Despite Baus informing the representative that the calls violated the TCPA, he alleged that InboundCD continued to contact him with further AI-generated attempts to transfer his call to Allstate. After Baus complained directly to the Hardin Agency, he was referred to InboundCD, which subsequently directed him to its legal counsel. The failure to resolve the dispute led to the current class action filing. The plaintiff seeks to represent classes of individuals in the United States and Washington state who received similar artificial or prerecorded voice calls for the same purpose over the four years preceding the complaint.