Woman sues Verizon Wireless, claims a customer service call led to her heart attack
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A Virginia woman is suing her cellphone service provider over a customer service encounter that she claims caused her to have a heart attack.
Angela Hawkins, a 53-year-old grandmother of four, sued Verizon Wireless on Wednesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court, the Virginian-Pilot reports.
Hawkins, whose claims include negligence and intentional infliction of emotion distress, is seeking $2.35 million in damages.
According to the suit, Hawkins called Verizon Wireless last November with a question about her account. After speaking with a customer service representative for at least 20 minutes, Hawkins was transferred to a supervisor. Hawkins says that when the supervisor came on the line, he falsely accused her of having threatened the employee and told her he was calling the police.
Hawkins was very shaken by this threat, according to her attorney, Jeffrey Brooke. He told the Virginian-Pilot that his client “had visions of SWAT guys breaking her door down and putting her in leg shackles.”
Hawkins told the newspaper the supervisor called back later to apologize for the “miscommunication.” He said he had since listened to a recording of the original call and determined that she hadn’t threatened anybody.
The next day, Hawkins said, she went to her doctor, who told her that an EKG indicated she had suffered a heart attack.
Her medical bills alone total more than $60,000, Brooke said, and the medication Hawkins will have to be on for the rest of her life would cost $120,000.
Hawkins told the Virginian-Pilot that she wants more than monetary damages from Verizon Wireless. She wants the company to realize that its employee committed a “horrible wrong.”
A spokesman for Verizon Wireless declined comment, the newspaper reports.
