Judge Prelim. Approves $11M Walgreens Pharmacy Robocall Class Action Settlement

National pharmacy chain Walgreens will pay $11 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accuses the retailer of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by placing unwanted “robocalls” to pharmacy customers.

A federal judge preliminarily approved the deal on April 3. A Final Fairness Hearing will be held on Aug. 5, 2015.

Plaintiff Robert Kolinek claims in the Walgreens class action lawsuit (Kolinek v. Walgreen Co.) that the company placed prerecorded prescription reminder calls to his cell phone without his consent as part of a nationwide telemarketing campaign urging consumers to visit their local Walgreens pharmacy.

Walgreen Co. denies any wrongdoing but agreed to settle the case to avoid the expense and uncertainty of going to trial.

Walgreens Class Action Settlement Details

Under the terms of the proposed class action settlement, filed March 26 with U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, eligible Class Members can expect to receive around $20 each. It’s estimated that more than 9 million Walgreens customers are eligible to file a claim.

Class Members include “all individuals in the United States to whom Walgreens placed a Prerecorded Prescription Call to their cellular telephone.” A “Prerecorded Prescription Call” is any prerecorded voice prescription refill reminder call placed to a cellular telephone by Walgreens and/or any third parties acting on its behalf

Settlement Class Members will have the option to file a claim for their share of the Walgreens TCPA class action settlement via email, online or through direct mail.

Details on how to file a claim were not immediately available. Notices of the Walgreens robocall settlement will be distributed within 60 days, according to the Approval Order.

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In addition to monetary payments, the pharmacy chain has agreed to begin taking precautions to make sure that only customers who provide “express consent” receive the automated cell phone calls.

Plaintiff Allegations

The plaintiff claims in the class action lawsuit that he became a Walgreens customer about 10 years ago. At some point during that time, Kolinek  says he provided his cell phone number to a Walgreens pharmacist for what he believed to be the purposes of identity verification.

According to the class action lawsuit, the plaintiff began receiving prerecorded prescription calls reminding him to fill his medications at a Walgreens pharmacy. Kolinek alleges that instead of using his phone number as a way to prove his identity, Walgreens “harvested their cellular phone numbers from its database of customer contact information” to begin a telemarketing campaign.

The plaintiff soon realized he wasn’t the only one receiving the robocalls. The TCPA class action lawsuit alleges that numerous other consumers never consented to receive these Walgreens robocalls.

Walgreens argues that the complaint was invalid because the prerecorded calls fell within the TCPA “emergency purpose” exception. As the law clearly states: “It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States…to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using…an artificial or prerecorded voice,” the company argued.

Walgreens claims that due to the potential harm of not taking/refilling prescriptions, they could place prerecorded messages to remind customers, and therefore these calls fall within the “emergency purpose” exemption of the TCPA.

The plaintiff argued otherwise, stating that “the mere provision of a telephone number at a specific time, for a specific purpose, did not constitute ‘consent’ to receive calls for any purpose, at any time in the future.”

Walgreens has continually denied any wrongdoing in this TCPA class action lawsuit but in August 2014 the presiding judge stated that he didn’t have enough information to rule that the automated phone calls would fall under the emergency exemption. Shortly after, Walgreens began settlement discussions with the plaintiff.

The Walgreens TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Kolinek v. Walgreen Co., Case No. 13-cv-04806 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

UPDATE: Instructions on how to file a claim for the Walgreens TCPA class action settlement are now available! Click here for more information.

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.  

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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