Walgreens Prescription Refill TCPA Class Action Settlement

Walgreen Co. has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by making prerecorded calls to certain pharmacy customers’ cell phones to remind them when their prescriptions at Walgreens were due for refills. If you received a prerecorded call on your cell phone reminding you that a prescription was due for a refill at Walgreens, you may be eligible for a cash payment from the class action settlement.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal law that protects consumers from unwanted phone calls made using an automated dialing system or with a prerecorded voice. The Walgreens TCPA class action lawsuit, which was filed in July 2013, alleged that Walgreens violated the TCPA by making unsolicited phone calls to the cellular telephones of consumers nationwide.  The plaintiffs allege these “robocalls” were made to consumers who previously filled their prescriptions at Walgreens pharmacies, in order to encourage them to refill their prescriptions at Walgreens.

“Unfortunately, Walgreens took no steps to obtain, and did not obtain, the prior express consent of these consumers to make such robocalls,” the Walgreens TCPA class action lawsuit said. “Instead, [Walgreen Co.] simply mined through its database of phone numbers from consumers who had previously filled prescriptions at Walgreen pharmacies, and began robocalling these numbers with the aforementioned ‘reminders.’ In this fashion, Walgreens automatically opted all of the consumers in its database into the robocall program, and required them to affirmatively opt-out in order to avoid [Walgreens’] repeated robocalls.”

Last summer, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly denied Walgreen’s bid to dismiss the TCPA class action lawsuit.

Walgreens denies any wrongdoing and asserts that the phone calls were necessary medical alerts that did not violate the TCPA. However, the company agreed to settle the TCPA class action lawsuit to avoid the time and expense of ongoing litigation. In addition to providing cash benefits to eligible Class Members, Walgreens has also agreed to change its practices to ensure its customers have consented to receive prerecorded prescription refill reminder calls on their cell phones.

The Walgreens pharmacy robocall class action settlement was preliminarily approved on April 3, 2015.

UPDATE: On Mar. 16, 2016, according to the settlement website all of the appeals have been dismissed in this action. Settlement checks will be sent no later than May 4, 2016.

UPDATE 2: If you filed a claim for the Walgreens TCPA class action settlement, keep an eye on your mailbox because checks should be arriving no later than May 4, 2016.
UPDATE 3: On May 9, 2016, Top Class Actions readersstarted receiving checks in the mailfrom the Walgreens TCPA settlement worth as much as $27.70.  

Who’s Eligible

Class Members of the Walgreens TCPA settlement include “all individuals in the United States to whom Walgreens placed a Prerecorded Prescription Call to their cellular telephone on or before April 3, 2015.”

According to the Walgreens TCPA class action settlement, a “Prerecorded Prescription Call” refers to any prescription refill reminder call that Walgreens made to a cell phone using a prerecorded voice.

Potential Award

Class Members will receive a pro rata share of the $11 million class action settlement fund. If, due to the number of claims filed, each Class Member would receive less than $15, they will have the opportunity to exclude themselves from the Walgreens TCPA class action settlement, or Walgreens may pay the difference up to $15.

Proof of Purchase

N/A.

The Claim Form requires Class Members to provide the following information:

• Name and address
• Cell phone number at which they received the Prerecorded Prescription Call(s)
• Sworn statement that they received the call(s) without their consent

NOTE: If you affirm that you received the calls without your consent, you will not be eligible to receive these reminder calls on your cell phone in the future unless you provide consent for future calls (you can provide consent for future calls on the Claim Form).

Claim Form

Claim Form Deadline

7/22/2015

Case Name

Kolinek v. Walgreen Co., Case No. 13-cv-04806, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Final Hearing

8/5/2015

Settlement Website

www.PrescriptionCallSettlement.com

Claims Administrator

Kolinek v. Walgreen Co. Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 43358
Providence, RI 02940-3358
1-877-392-3209

Class Counsel

Jay Edelson
Rafey S. Balabanian
Ryan D. Andrews
Benjamin H. Richman
EDELSON PC

Defense Counsel

Bradley J. Andreozzi
DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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