$6.5M Settlement Reached in Palm Beach Mall Text Spam Class Action

A $6.5 million settlement agreement has been reached between The Mosaic Group, Palm Beach Mall Holding and a class of plaintiffs in a Florida federal court, over allegations that the companies sent unsolicited text messages about the new mall in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The TCPA class action lawsuit was filed by south Florida resident Debbie Lanza, who claimed that Mosaic and the Palm Beach Mall sent almost 90,000 text messages that were unauthorized to promote the new outlet mall that opened in Palm Beach County, Florida, violating the TCPA.

However, the “defendants have denied and continue to deny any wrongdoing whatsoever and have denied and continue to deny that they committed, or threatened, or attempted to commit any wrongful act or violation of law or duty alleged in the Action,” according to the proposed class action settlement agreement.

In addition to the payments, “the defendants agree that they shall refrain from making directly, or indirectly through contractual agreement with others, text messages calls, to any telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service of a recipient within the United States, unless the recipient has given prior express consent,” the motion stated.

“The defendants further agree to keep documentation (electronic or hard copy) of prior express consent received from each recipient for a period of four years from the date such consent is received,” the settlement adds.

Lanza filed the original class action lawsuit in January, in which she charged Mosaic and the Palm Beach Mall company of using Florida voter records to acquire cellphone numbers so that the two companies could use the numbers to market the new mall without the consent of the individuals.

The solicitations included the mall’s website address as well as information about a job fair geared toward construction workers need to get the mall built.

However, Lanza said in her original lawsuit that the class members never gave their cellphone numbers to either company, and consent was never given to the companies to contact the class members.

Lanza claimed that the text messages caused “aggravation and nuisance that necessarily accompanies the receipt of the unsolicited text message calls, and the monies paid to their website carriers for the receipt of such text message calls.”

According to the TCPA, “intrusive nuisance calls” that are disruptive to a person’s privacy are prohibited.

The motion to settle the case states that the agreement is fair for a variety of reasons given that Mosaic and the Palm Beach Mall have given a “vigorous defense of the case” and has been going on for almost a year through “substantial litigation, discovery, dispositive motion practice and extensive arm’s-length negotiations.”

Details on how to file a claim for the text spam class action settlement were not immediately available.

The plaintiffs are represented by Ari J. Scharg, Rafey S. Balabanian and Benjamin S. Thomassen of Edelson LLC and Stefan Coleman of the Law Offices of Stefan Coleman PLLC.

The Text Spam Class Action Lawsuit is Lanza v. EMJ Corp., et al., Case No. 9:13-cv-80093, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

If you or someone you know received unsolicited faxes, phone calls, or text messages, legal options are available. Learn more and get a free legal consultation regarding a claim’s eligibility at the Text Message Spam, Cell Phone Call TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation. Experienced legal professionals are available to determine if you have case, so act now.