AT&T Class Action Says Unwanted Text Messages Violate TCPA

AT&T Corp. is facing a class action lawsuit filed by a Chicago resident who claims the company sent him unwanted text messages in Spanish. He says these unwanted texts were sent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Plaintiff Ali Gadelhak alleges AT&T violated the TCPA by using an automated dialing service to send the text messages to his cell phone. The TCPA prohibits companies from using automated systems to deliver text messages to consumers who have not consented to receive the texts.

Gadelhak asserts he is not an AT&T customer and that he does not have a relationship with AT&T. According to the TCPA class action lawsuit, his cellphone number has been registered on the National Do Not Call Registry since May 2014.

On July 15, 2016, Gadelhak reportedly received from AT&T a customer satisfaction text message in Spanish, even though Gadelhak says he is not an AT&T customer and that he doesn’t speak Spanish. When Gadelhak replied to the text message to inquire about the sender’s identity, he was sent another text that appeared to be the next question in the customer service survey, the AT&T class action lawsuit alleges.

According to the AT&T class action lawsuit, companies are increasingly using text messaging for advertising purposes. These Short Message Service (or SMS) allows cell phone users to send and receive brief text messages, which may be limited to 120 to 150 characters. Cell phone users receive immediate notification about the receipt of a SMS text message because their phone will ring or vibrate as an alert.

“The open rate for SMS messages exceeds 99 percent, and 90 percent of those messages are read within three minutes,” the TCPA class action lawsuit states. “Conversely, the open rate for email in the retail industry is 31 percent.”

Text messages are a convenient and effective method of communication, but unlike other types of communication, text messages can cost the recipients money, depending on their particular cell phone billing plan. These costs apply even if the text message was not authorized by the recipient.

By filing the TCPA class action lawsuit, Gadelhak seeks to represent all U.S. consumers who received a non-emergency text message on their cell phone that was placed by AT&T using an automatic telephone dialing system in the last four years, and where AT&T did not have consent to send the text messages.

He also seeks to represent a subclass of consumers who received an AT&T customer satisfaction survey text message even though they were not customers of AT&T.

By sending these unwanted text messages, Gadelhak asserts, AT&T has caused the putative Class Members to suffer “actual harm, not only because consumers were subjected to the aggravation, waste of time and invasion of privacy that necessarily accompanies mobile spam, but because consumers frequently have to pay their cell phone service providers for the receipt of such spam and such messages diminish cellular battery life and waste data storage capacity.”

Gadelhak is represented by Keith J. Keogh, Timothy J. Sostrin and Michael Hilicki of Keogh Law Ltd.

The AT&T Text Message Spam Class Action Lawsuit is Ali Gadelhak v. AT&T Corp., Case No. 1:17-cv-01559, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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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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