Baskin-Robbins Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Unwanted Texts

Baskin-Robbins has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the popular ice cream chain violated federal law by sending customers annoying, unwanted text messages.

Lead plaintiff Deeba Abedi alleges in her class action lawsuit that Baskin-Robbins sent her unwanted text messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The plaintiff notes that the TCPA requires companies obtain consent before sending automated communications to consumers via phone unless it is an emergency. Abedi did not note any ice cream emergency in her complaint.

“In enacting the TCPA, Congress intended to give consumers a choice as to how creditors and telemarketers may call them, and made specific findings that ‘[t]echnologies that might allow consumers to avoid receiving such calls are not universally available, are costly, are unlikely to be enforced, or place an inordinate burden on the consumer,'” the Baskin-Robbins lawsuit states.

The plaintiff says she was prompted by a sign in a Baskin-Robbins location to text “scoop” to a number to receive a free scoop of ice cream. Abedi alleges that the sign did not indicate that her number would be placed on a call list; however, her contact information was placed on an “SMS Blasting Platform” that delivered marketing messages from the ice cream shop from February to March of 2017.

“Congress also specifically found that ‘the evidence presented to the Congress indicates that automated or prerecorded calls are a nuisance and an invasion of privacy, regardless of the type of call,'” states the Baskin-Robbins class action lawsuit.

According to the Baskin-Robbins lawsuit, Abedi was charged for each of the messages under her cell phone plan and she never agreed to receive solicitation messages from Baskin-Robbins.

The plaintiff seeks to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who received unsolicited text messages from Baskin-Robins in the past four years. Abedi claims that Basin-Robins either willfully or negligently violated the TCPA by entering her and others’ contact information into the SMS Blasting Platform and sending the unwanted, annoying marketing messages.

The Baskin-Robbins class action notes that in enacting the TCPA, “Congress found that ‘[b]anning such automated or prerecorded telephone calls to the home, except when the receiving party consents to receiving the call or when such calls are necessary in an emergency situation affecting the health and safety of the consumer, is the only effective means of protecting telephone consumers from this nuisance and privacy invasion.'”

The plaintiff is seeking statutory damages for each violation of the TCPA she alleges Baskin-Robbins committed, up to $1,500 per violation. The plaintiff is also seeking a court order prohibiting Baskin-Robbins from engaging in the same type of marketing in the future.

Abedi is represented by Todd M. Friedman, Meghan E. George, and Adrian R. Bacon of the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC.

The Baskin-Robbins Text Message Class Action Lawsuit is Deeba Abedi v. Baskin-Robbins LLC, et al., Case No. 1:17-at-00749, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 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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