Federal Judge Accepts $11M Walgreens TCPA Class Action Settlement

The federal judge in charge of a Walgreens text spam class action lawsuit has signed off on a hefty $11 million settlement.

The TCPA class action lawsuit over the Walgreens Co.’s alleged practice of sending their customers prescription reminders via cell phone has come to an end after U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly approved the settlement on Nov. 23, 2015.

Lead plaintiff Robert Kolinek brought the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and more than 9 million Walgreens customers who received these prescription reminders over cell phone.

According to court documents, Kolinek will receive $5,000 of the TCPA class action settlement fund for serving as the class representative. $3.15 million goes to expenses classified as “settlement administration,” as well as notifications to the millions of class members.

Attorney fees constitute a large chunk of the settlement as well – $2.8 million, or about 36 percent.

The settlement was initially reached just over a year ago, in October 2014.

Walgreens TCPA Class Action Lawsuit

The TCPA class action lawsuit against Walgreens was first launched in 2013.

The TCPA lawsuit alleged that the company committed millions of violations by sending prerecorded messages to their customers’ cell phones, reminding them to refill their prescriptions.

TCPA rules require that companies receive express permission from customers before sending out prerecorded messages. In fact, early on in the TCPA class action lawsuit, Walgreens was able to persuade the court to dismiss this class action.

While Kolinek and millions of Walgreens customers like him had provided their cell phone numbers to the company, they argued that they had not given Walgreens express permission to send these prerecorded messages. The plaintiffs then convinced the court to reconsider its dismissal.

Each TCPA violation can result in statutory damages of amounts between $500 and $1,500, depending on whether or not the violation was committed knowingly.

There were some concerns about the settlement providing a payout too small per class member. At face value, it appears that the average class member would receive about $1.20 from the settlement.

However, while millions of class members were part of the settlement, it is likely that there are considerably fewer valid eligible claims – perhaps as few as 230,000. This would amount to about a $30 award per class member.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) was intended to protect consumers from unwanted solicitation. This includes the placement of a robocall – the use of an automated dialing machine and/or a pre-recorded message, including text message spam to reach consumers. Nevertheless, many companies choose to perform these kinds of calls anyway.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “Unwanted calls and texts are the number one complaint to the FCC…The FCC received more than 215,000 TCPA complaints in 2014.”

Simply knowing what TCPA violations are, may allow consumers to collect a substantial amount of money per violation.

Actions by a company that are prohibited under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act generally include:

• Calls placed to residences before 8 am or after 9 pm, local time
• Calling consumers who specifically asked the company not to call them (i.e. consumers on the company’s do-not-call list)
• Calling consumers on the National Do Not Call Registry
• Failing to identify the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made
• Using an artificial voice or a recorded message
• Using an automatic telephone dialing system to place the call
• Sending unsolicited advertising faxes

If you have received these kinds of calls or texts, and you believe them to be in violation of the TCPA, you may be eligible to receive compensation.

In order to be involved in a class action lawsuit against a company for TCPA violations, you will need to keep a good record of your experience with these messages and calls. Do not delete messages or phone records, and keep written record of violations.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

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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