Kohls Accused of Sending Text Message Spam Against TCPA

A woman accuses Kohl’s Corp. of violating the TCPA by sending text message spam to her phone without her express permission.

The complainant alleges that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending text message spam to her without express permission.

According to a Law360 article, plaintiff Gabriela U. claims that the Kohl’s Corp. used the promised provision of coupons as an enticement to text them, so they could in turn send text message spam.

The text message spam that Gabriela says she received from the department store giant was purportedly highly disruptive to both her personal and professional life.

The plaintiff indicates in the narrative of the proposed text message spam class action lawsuit that she responded to a 15 percent off coupon promise by the defendant by texting “SAVE” to Kohl’s Corp.

Within a few hours of doing so, she says she received two communications. The first cell phone text message spam contained no coupon as hoped, she says. The second cell phone text message did in fact contain the 15 percent off coupon.

Gabriela claims her response to the coupon enticement merely opened the door for further invasions of her privacy via her cell phone. According to her complaint, text message spam started up again within a couple of weeks with a communication designed to sell a particular product to her. She was allegedly frustrated, annoyed and aggravated with the interruption.

By registering this complaint as a proposed class action lawsuit, she hopes to stop these violations by the retailer toward herself and all those that have been on the receiving end of advertising-related text message spam from them over the last four consecutive years.

The plaintiff hopes that Kohl’s Corp. will admit to purposefully ignoring the parameters of the TCPA when sending out text message spam from automated telephone dialing systems (ATDS).

Gabriel seeks a court injunction barring Kohl’s from sending future text message spam. She is claiming the right to actual and statutory damages for the interruptions and invasion of her privacy and that of the class she hopes to represent.

According to the Law360 article, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) put TCPA restrictions in place in an effort to reel in the telemarketing industry. The industry’s activities had gotten out of control with the advent of new technologies available with the iPhones and other smart phones and portable devices.

One of the restrictions that the FCC put in place was the requirement to get written consent from the would-be recipient prior to sending out advertising text mail spam to cell phones. Since the passage of this restriction, there have been numerous violations of this area of the TCPA.

Currently, there are several proposed class action lawsuits registered in federal court addressing these violations. Bloomingdale’s recently settled for $1.4 million for allegedly sending out text message spam to its customer list without first getting permission to do so.

Freedom Mortgage Co. tried to prevent two similar class action lawsuits from moving forward against them for text message TCPA infractions, but failed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.

The Kohl’s Text Message Spam Lawsuit is Case No. 0:18-cv-61800 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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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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