Buffalo Wild Wings Class Action: Advertising Text Messages Violate Law

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Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., Yelp Inc. and related companies violate federal law by sending unsolicited advertising text messages to restaurant customers, according to a class action lawsuit removed from California state court to federal court on Dec. 14.

Plaintiff Marche Meeks alleges Buffalo Wild Wings misused his phone number in July 2017, when he visited a restaurant location in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He says he gave the hostess his phone number so that he could be informed when a table was ready.

Shortly after that, Meeks says he received a text message inviting him to use a certain website to check his place in line. The website allegedly told Meeks that to see his place in line, he would have to download and install the Nowait app.

Nowait lets restaurant customers view wait times at multiple restaurants – not just at Buffalo Wild Wings – and get a place in line at the restaurant of their choice before they arrive there in person.

The text message also told Meeks to download the company’s Blazin’ Rewards app, he claims. The app is part of a customer rewards program that lets customers earn points that they can exchange for food.

Meeks says he had a similar experience in September 2017 at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Chino Hills, Calif., this time receiving a text message with a link to download the Yelp app.

Yelp runs a restaurant waitlist management service similar to Nowait’s, allowing patrons to put their name on a waitlist using the Yelp app. Yelp acquired Nowait in 2017, Meeks says.

Meeks believes the defendants have sent similar text messages to thousands of Buffalo Wild Wings customers using an automatic telephone dialing system, all without the recipient’s prior express written consent.

By doing so, he claims, the defendants are in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a federal law that restricts the use of certain automated equipment to send electronic communications.

Originally passed to limit telemarketing phone calls, the TCPA has been updated to apply to SMS text messages like those Meeks says he received. Companies that send unsolicited text messages in violation of the TCPA can find themselves on the hook for $500 to $1,500 in statutory damages for each violation.

Meeks proposes to represent two plaintiff Classes. The Yelp/Nowait Class would include all persons in the U.S. who within the past four years received a text message from the defendants sent using an automatic telephone dialing system and containing a link to a website that prompts them to download the Yelp or Nowait apps.

The BWW Class would represent persons in a similar situation who received a text that prompted them to download the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Rewards app.

Meeks is asking for statutory damages worth $500 for each negligent TCPA violation and $1,500 for each violation made knowingly or willfully. He seeks an injunction prohibiting Buffalo Wild Wings from sending similar text messages in the future.

Meeks’s attorneys are Justin Kachadoorian, Anthony J. Orshansky and Alexandria Kachadoorian of CounselOne PC.

The Buffalo Wild Wings Text Message Spam Class Action Lawsuit is Meeks v. Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-07129, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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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