Judge Approves $1M Campus Debt TCPA Class Action Settlement

A $1 million TCPA class action settlement with student loan company Educational Financial Services, that does business as Campus Debt Solutions, received initial approval.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar approved the $1 million settlement deal between Campus Debt Solutions and consumers who claim the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by making robocalls.

According to Judge Tigar, the deal is advantageous to consumers because the company is soon shutting down, which would result in consumers getting no compensation had litigation continued.

“Considering the settlement as a whole, and given the direct distribution process and the uncertainty surrounding the central defendant, the settlement amount is reasonable and favors approval,” the judge stated.

The Campus Debt class action settlement was reached after two years of discovery and motion filing. The consumers and the company initially made an effort to settle the issue through mediation, but were unsuccessful.

The plaintiffs and the company then sought preliminary approval of the settlement in January. Throughout litigation process, Campus Debt Solutions has maintained that it did not violate the TCPA.

The Campus Debt Solutions class action lawsuit was filed in 2016 by Winifred Cabiness. Cabiness claims that she called a number that was previously associated with a U.S. Department of Education call center for questions about student loans.

Cabiness says she called the number to ask a question about student loans, and that at the time of the call, she was unaware that the number was used by Campus Debt Solutions. She claims that for the duration of the call, she was unaware that she was speaking with a representative of that company.

The Campus Debt TCPA class action lawsuit states that after that call, Cabiness was repeatedly contacted by Campus Debt Solutions, who made calls to her via an automatic dialing system.

She claims that she never gave permission to the company to make the calls, and that she asked to be placed on the company’s “Do Not Call” list, but continued to receive calls nonetheless.

Cabiness’ TCPA class action lawsuit alleges that the company made a practice of calling consumers via automatic dialing system and without their prior express consent, and that numerous consumers have been similarly affected.

She claims that these actions violate the TCPA, which prohibits businesses from making calls to individuals without their prior consent and from making telemarketing calls via an automatic dialing system.

The consumer Class for the Campus Debt Solutions telemarketing class action lawsuit includes all individuals who received calls from Campus Debt Solutions since Oct. 16, 2013, if the calls were made via an automatic dialing system or if they had not given prior consent to receive the calls.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Cabiness and the Class of consumers are represented by Bryan Kemnitzer and Elliot Conn of Kemnitzer Barron & Krieg LLP and by Sharon Djemal of the East Bay Community Law Center.

The Campus Debt Solutions Unwanted Calls Class Action Lawsuit is Cabiness v. Educational Financial Solutions, Case No. 3:16-cv-01109, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
UPDATE, October 5, 2018: The Campus Debt TCPA claim form is now available!  Review settlement detailshere.

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