Opt-Out Message Content Critical for Text Spam Class Actions

Opt-Out Message Content Critical for Text Spam Class Actions

By John Curran

When customers opt out of a service such as text message alerts, companies often follow up with a confirmation text as a mobile marketing best practice. This additional unwanted text, however, can actually harm the company, especially when the customer uses it as evidence that it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The TCPA prohibits companies from sending text message advertisements to consumers without their prior permission. A recent decision by California federal judge Dana Sabraw, however, may make it more difficult to include these opt-out texts in TCPA lawsuits.

While the opt-out confirmation represents an additional text message a user may not want to receive, Sabraw said these messages do not violate TCPA protections because they are merely a confirmation.

Judge Sabraw handed down the decision in a text spam class action lawsuit filed against Redbox. In the case of Redbox, the company did not include any marketing material in an opt-out message it sent to the plaintiff, even though it did include the company’s website. This change restricts damages that a plaintiff can seek because there is a limit of $1,500 per unwanted text message.

While it may limit future penalties in TCPA lawsuits heard in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, it does not change the basic form of complaints that can join text message spam class action lawsuits. Cell phone users who feel they have not opted into these programs can file a TCPA lawsuit or class action lawsuit providing they meet certain standards. Text spam lawsuit attorneys have found that judges require either an impersonal message to demonstrate the likely use of a random dialer, or do not require it at all.

The decision by Judge Sabraw was handed down in the now-dismissed text message spam class action lawsuit case known as Holt v. Redbox Automated Retail LLC, Case No. 11-cv-03046, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Cell phone users who have been receiving text messages, outside of opt-out confirmations, that they did not sign up for do have legal options available to them. A free consultation to establish one’s eligibility to file a claim is available at the Text Message Spam, Cell Phone Call TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation. Fill out the short form there and you will be able to get in touch with text spam lawsuit attorneys to learn what your options are in pursuing legal action.

Updated July 10th, 2013

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