TCPA Class Action: CVS Pharmacy Made Unsolicited Phone Calls, Texts

CVS Pharmacy Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit for sending thousands of automated calls and texts to customers, without their consent.

These customers allege that these advertising texts directly violated their rights under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and that the company used illegal automated dialing systems to make those calls.

Filed in early August in a Louisiana federal court, the alleged TCPA violations began in October 2013 when the lead plaintiff Charles B. received multiple text messages from the CVS.

Charles alleges that he, as well as many other consumers, suffered harassment and wasted texting minutes from these unwanted solicitation messages.

According to Charle’s TCPA class action lawsuit, he received multiple calls and texts from CVS Pharmacy in a single week, with a robotic sounding voice responding in the times he responded; these signs indicate an automated dialing system.

Under the TCPA, companies are prohibited from using automated dialing systems to contact consumers in the United States. Established in 1991, the TCPA was created to help protect consumers against the constant barrage of unwanted marketing calls from companies hoping to attract more customers.

It sets a number of rules for companies to follow when contacting consumers, including getting prior consent from the customer to initiate contact and not using automated dialing systems; this rule was later amended to include unwanted text messages.

The TCPA also requires companies to give customers an opt-out option and allow the customer to sign up for the company’s do-not-call registry, which must be honored for at least five years.

Furthermore, the company representative must be able to identify themselves and the company they work for to the customer, to verify that they are not an automated voice.

Overview of TCPA Violations

In this TCPA class action lawsuit, CVS allegedly used an automated dialing system to store or produce numbers to be called, by using either a random or sequential number generators.

The calls were reportedly transmitted through a telecommunications company in Nebraska, West Corp, which is also named as a defendant in this case.

Charles is suing the companies for the costs associated with his and other class members’ cellphone data plans, nuisance, invasion of privacy, and harassment. The exact amount of damages Charles is seeking has not been disclosed, but an injunction indicates that it is over $5 million.

Charles is also demanding that the company preserve all recordings of the phone calls placed after October 2013, all of the company’s training materials regarding telemarketing and text messages, a list of the receiving phone calls, a list of recipients who asked to opt-out, and any proof of written consent.

As of now, the defendants have yet to comment on the demands of the plaintiff, but this is not the first time that CVS Pharmacy has been in hot water for TCPA allegations.

In a separate case in March 2015, a Florida federal judge had approved a TCPA settlement against CVS where they had to pay out for similar damages. Similar to Charles, the Florida plaintiff accused the company of sending automated text messages to remind customers to refill their prescriptions without any prior consent.

These text messages had been sent to customers who automatically opted in to the company’s text message program and had to opt-out in order to not repeatedly receive the messages.

This TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Brady v. CVS Pharmacy Inc. et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-00529, in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Louisiana.

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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