Lyft Class Action Says Job-Recruitment Text Messages Violate Law

A Lyft class action lawsuit claims that consumers’ right to privacy was violated when the ridesharing company sent unauthorized text messages to mobile devices.

Plaintiff Antonio Tecson alleges in the Lyft class action lawsuit, filed in California, that the unwanted text messages violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

“Specifically, Defendants have violated the TCPA by sending unsolicited text messages without prior express consent, invading the consumers’ right to privacy,” the Lyft class action lawsuit states.

The Lyft class action lawsuit, which was recently removed to federal court, says that in early 2018 Tecson received two text messages to his cell phone.

The messages advertised the ridesharing company’s need for drivers, along with a sign-on bonus. Tecson says he never authorized Lyft to solicit him with advertisements – which means the texts are an alleged violation of the TCPA.

The TCPA is a federal law that was enacted in the 1990s to protect consumers from telemarketing.

Generally, under the law, companies are prohibited from contacting consumers via phone, fax, or text message without the prior express consent of the consumer. The law also restricts the use of automated dialing systems and the use of prerecorded messages.

Companies caught violating the TCPA can be subject to steep fines – up to $1,500 per violation, or a fine for each telemarketing communication they sent to unwitting consumers.

This is not the first class action lawsuit to hit Lyft over allegedly unwanted text messages.

Just recently, the rideshare company and class action plaintiffs reported that they were nearing a settlement in a class action lawsuit in Washington alleging the company send ads for ride discounts via text message.

Class Members reportedly may receive up to $132 from the Washington Lyft class action settlement, should it be approved.

The California Lyft class action lawsuit alleges that the rideshare company sent unwanted text messages and also utilized an automatic dialing system in violation of the TCPA.

“Plaintiff is informed and believes…that his cellular-telephone number—along with thousands of other cellular-telephone numbers—was entered into, and stored in, a database maintained by Defendants, and that Defendants sent him the [unwanted] text messages by accessing that database through the use of automated equipment capable of dialing the number that had been entered into, and stored in, that database,” alleges the Lyft class action lawsuit.

The Lyft text message class action lawsuit seeks to represent the alleged thousands of consumers who received a job-recruitment text message from the rideshare company over the past four years without prior express authorization.

The plaintiff is seeking damages under the TCPA, along with attorneys’ fees and costs.

Tecson and proposed Class Members are represented by Michael J. Jaurigue, Abigail A. Zelenski, David Zelenski, and Ryan A. Stubbe of Jaurigue Law Group.

The Lyft Job-Recruitment Text Messages Class Action Lawsuit is Tecson v. Lyft Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-06782, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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