Earlier this month, a Louisiana federal judge granted final approval of a $9.25 million settlement between Advanced Care Scripts Inc. (Advanced Care) and a class of plaintiffs—led by Jefferson Radiation Oncology LLC (Jefferson Radiation), a Louisiana-based treatment facility. Plaintiffs alleged that Advanced Care sent fax advertisements that violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), by
US Coachways Settles TCPA Class Action for $49.9 Million
Last week, an Illinois federal judge approved a $49.9 million settlement between US Coachways, a national charter bus and bus rental company, and a class of plaintiffs, represented by lead plaintiff James Bull for Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations. The class action alleged that US Coachways sent a “staggering” amount of text messages to…
Cruise Line to Pay up to $76 Million to Settle TCPA Violations
Caribbean Cruise Line Inc., The Berkley Group Inc., and Vacation Ownership Marketing Tours, Inc. settled a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action last week for up to $76 million (and not less than $56 million). The three were sued for violating the TCPA by robocalling millions of individuals with offers for free trips. The…
FCC and Federal Debt Collectors, More Restrictions under TCPA
In July we wrote about the exemption for robocalls made by the federal government (or its contractors) from the restrictions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added another caveat to the TCPA, advising that while federally backed debt collection calls to consumers at risk of delinquency are exempt…
FCC Exempts Schools and Utilities from TCPA for Emergencies
On August 4, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a ruling applicable to schools and utilities regarding the application of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to robocalls and text messages to wireless numbers in emergencies.
The FCC ruling states that schools can make robocalls and sent automated texts to wireless phones without consent…
Caribou Coffee faces TCPA class action for unwanted text messages
Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. (Caribou Coffee) was hit with a class action this week in Wisconsin. which alleges that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when it sent unsolicited text messages to thousands of individuals who never consented to receive those text messages. Lead plaintiff, Kristie Farnham, alleges that she received over…
Trump campaign sued for sending spam texts in violation of TCPA
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., which is the official campaign committee for candidate Donald Trump, was named in a putative class action case on April 25, 2016, for sending unwanted text messages to individuals. The case was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.
The suit alleges that the text messages…
Facebook argues Motion to Dismiss in ‘happy birthday’ message campaign TCPA class action
On April 25, 2016, Facebook Inc. (Facebook) pled with a California federal judge, asking that the court dismiss the claims filed against the social media giant for its alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations. We wrote about this class action when it first surfaced back in February, and now Facebook hopes that the court…
Debt collector, Portfolio Recovery Associates, to pay $18 million to settle TCPA violations
Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC (Portfolio Recovery) agreed to pay $18 million to end multi-district litigation against the debt collection company for its alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The claims against Portfolio Recovery alleged that the company made autodialed telephone calls to consumers without their consent. All consumers who received an autodialed…
Robocalls offering ‘free cruise’ for completion of political survey TCPA violation
This week an Illinois court found that Economic Strategy Group (ESG) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by making robocalls to almost 1 million individuals purporting to be conducting a political survey but also offering a “free cruise” for taking part in the survey. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said in his lengthy…