This week, a Pennsylvania federal judge refused to approve a proposed $4 million settlement for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because it would provide the 67,000 class members with only $35 each. In the 50-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson said that Flagship Credit Acceptance LLC (Flagship) ought to be able … Continue Reading
Like many of you, I don’t answer my cell phone unless the number pops up as someone I know, because a majority of the calls I get are spam or robocalls. It’s so frustrating. Although these calls are probably a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – the … Continue Reading
Lead plaintiff, John Herrick, in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action lawsuit against GoDaddy.com LLC (GoDaddy.com) opposed an Arizona federal judge’s May 2018 decision to grant summary judgment in favor of GoDaddy.com. The court granted summary judgment on the grounds that the platform used to send the text messages did not qualify as … Continue Reading
Ever notice the flatscreen TVs and tablets in your doctor’s office that run different health-related and wellness stories? Many of them are provided by Outcome Health, which installs free TVs and tablets in doctor’s offices to provide educational material to patients while they are sitting in the waiting room. The company makes its money by … Continue Reading
Last week, TOPS Software LLC (TOPS), a software company that specializes in condominium and homeowners association communication platforms, was served with a class action in Illinois federal court which alleges that TOPS violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by using auto dialer technology to solicit consumers to attend the “CAMfire conference.” The CAMfire Conference … Continue Reading
Last week, A&B Insurance and Financial LLC (A&B Insurance) agreed to pay $4.25 million to settle claims that it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by initiating telephone calls to consumers without prior express consent, as required by the TCPA, including some calls to consumers on the federal Do Not Call Registry. Lead plaintiffs, … Continue Reading
Last week, Georgia federal judge, U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land, approved the final order and judgment to settle class action claims that Central Payment Co. LLC (Central Payment) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for $6.5 million. Lead plaintiff, Fred Heidarpour, claimed that Central Payment violated the TCPA by hiring third parties to … Continue Reading
A group of Rite Aid customers sued Rite Aid in December of 2014 for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act when it sent flu shot reminders to consumer’s cellphones without written consent. On March 30, 2017, a federal district court judge in New York dismissed the proposed class action lawsuit by granting Rite … Continue Reading
American Eagle Outfitters (American Eagle) settled a class action filed against it for alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) violations for $14.5 million last week. The class action complaint alleged that American Eagle send unsolicited text message messages to over 600,000 unique cell phone numbers without prior written consent as required by the TCPA. The … Continue Reading
This year has been a busy year for education law in the area of data privacy. Educational institutions continue to be a rich target for hackers. Additionally, there were some important developments in the interpretation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) as it applies to educational … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
Uber Technologies, Inc. was hit with another class action lawsuit [view previous post here] last week for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when it sent text messages to its customers without prior written consent. The suit, filed in federal court in Texas, alleges that Uber sent text messages to its customers to … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 were … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
Last week, the Ninth Circuit dismissed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action against Sabre Inc. (Sabre) because the court determined that the lead plaintiff, Shaya Baird, had consented to receiving text messages by providing her phone number when she booked a flight with Hawaiian Airlines. Baird’s complaint alleged that Sabre sent her an … Continue Reading
Last week, Victoria’s Secret was hit with a class action in California alleging that the lingerie company sent Michael Hannegan almost 100 texts in one day in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Hannegan admits he did opt-in to receiving promotional texts from Victoria’s Secret in May of this year, but Victoria’s Secret … Continue Reading
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a denial of a petition from a company that provides bulk marketing texts for other companies, clarified that it will maintain separate standards for fax and text messaging senders when looking to investigate and enforce violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In essence, the FCC stated that … Continue Reading
Mortgage Investors Corp. (MIC) settled a class action this week for $7.4 million for its alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in an Oregon federal court. Plaintiffs stated in their complaint that MIC made millions of unsolicited telephone calls to veterans marketing refinancing options for their home loans. Plaintiffs also alleged that … Continue Reading
