Without first checking the national Do Not Call Registry, a Massachusetts company has placed more than 100,000 telephone calls to Arkansas consumers to solicit memberships in time-share resorts, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe is alleging in a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in Little Rock, contends that at least 500 of the Arkansans who have been contacted since Jan. 1, 2005, by Berkshire Getaways had their numbers listed on the national registry, and that each of those calls constitutes a violation of both federal and state consumer laws.

The suit notes that at least 25 Arkansans have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against Berkshire, located in Pittsfield, Mass., and Data King Corp. of Albany, N.Y., about the unauthorized contacts. Both companies were incorporated by Richard King, the president and sole member of the board of directors of each company who is also named as a defendant.

Beebe, Arkansas' governor-elect, seeks injunctions to stop any illegal practices and civil penalties against each defendant of $10,000 for each violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Kristin Lennon, who identified herself as "the manager," was reached Tuesday through one of two telephone numbers listed in the lawsuit as the source of the telemarketing calls. She said King was not available, but that the company was aware of the lawsuit and, "We don't have a comment." Beebe's spokesman, Matt DeCample, said Tuesday that while the attorney general's office still gets some complaints from Arkansans about telemarketers violating the law by calling numbers listed on the registry, most Do Not Call Registry complaints now go directly to the federal agency.

The state attorney general's office receives records of those complaints that concern Arkansans, DeCample said. He said Beebe decided to take action against Berkshire and Data King because the volume of complaints indicated the company was "basically ignoring" the registry.

DeCample noted that this summer, the number of Arkansas telephone numbers that have been placed on the national registry since its inception in 2003 exceeded 1 million. DeCample said that doesn't necessarily mean that more than a million Arkansans are on the registry, because each person can register as many as three telephone numbers.

Under federal law, telemarketers are required to access the Do Not Call Registry no more than 31 days before any call is made, according to the lawsuit. It says the Telemarketing Sales Rule is violated when a telemarketer initiates any outbound call to anyone who has asked not to receive such a call.

The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge James Moody.