Federal Judge Urged to Approve $17.5M Navient Robocall Settlement

Consumers are urging an Indiana federal judge to give preliminary approval for a $17.5 million Navient robocall settlement that would resolve various allegations of Telephone Consumer Protection ACT (TCPA) violations against Navient Solutions Inc.

Plaintiffs Shelly Toure and Tony Heard alleged the company made numerous calls to their cellphones without their consent using automated dialing systems. In a separate but similar TCPA class action lawsuit, plaintiff Randy Johnson raised similar complaints and is awaiting further litigation in the same district as Toure and Heard.

According to Toure and Heard, the only significant difference between their TCPA class action lawsuit and Johnson’s is their proposed class periods.

Johnson won certification for his proposed Class in July 2016, consisting of consumers who reportedly received calls from Navient between May 4, 2011 and March 7, 2016. Toure and Heard’s proposed Class began the next day on March 8, 2016, alleging similar complaints against Navient.

Later, Toure and Heard and successfully transferred their action to Indiana federal court where it was coordinated with Johnson’s action.

Overview of Navient Robocall Settlement

According to the Navient robocall settlement, each Class Member will receive a share from the $17.5 million.

The proposed Navient robocall settlement Class consists of all consumers and entities residing in the United States who, from May 4, 2011 through the present and after Navient designated the number called as a wrong number, received unwanted cellphone calls from Navient made using an automatic telephone dialing system.

Johnson’s TCPA class action lawsuit began in May 2015, after he reportedly started receiving numerous calls from Navient beginning in September 2014. When he answered, an artificial or pre-recorded voice would answer and eventually told that the loan service company was trying to reach an individual named Marie Bottoms.

Under the TCPA, companies are generally prohibited from using artificial or pre-recorded voices when calling consumers without their consent. Even though Johnson repeatedly told Navient that he was not Bottoms and asked for the calls stop, Navient continued to call him.

Navient argued that Johnson was not qualified to represent the class in the Navient robocall settlement. The company pointed out that Bottoms was an ex-girlfriend who had given permission to use his phone at the time. Navient also argued that due to the individual circumstances of each of the recipients, this case was not eligible for class action status.

However, U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney rejected Navient’s argument and allowed Johnson’s claim to move forward.

UPDATE: The Navient TCPA class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On Sept. 22, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers who filed valid claims for the Navient TCPA class action settlement started receiving checks in the mail worth as much as $510.27!

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.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now