Major League Baseball (MLB) and the San Francisco Giants have been sending an illegal “onslaught” of marketing text messages to people’s cell phones in an attempt to drive fan engagement, a new lawsuit alleges.
A proposed class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in a New York federal court takes aim at the league and the team, with California plaintiff Kristina Lee saying she’s had dozens of text messages from the pair promoting games, merch, and events since May 2019.
Lee said the unsolicited texts were sent without her written consent, in breach of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and without first providing her with disclosures, Law360 reported.
The lawsuit was filed against the MLB’s marketing arm, MLB Advanced Media LP.
“MLB Media’s marketing tactics walk consumers into an onslaught of marketing messages delivered straight to their cell phones without regard to whether the text recipients are trying to drive safely, pray in peace, focus attention on their jobs or families or otherwise attempting to seek solitude in their homes or elsewhere,” she said.
The lawsuit alleges the MLB has purchased a number of “shortcode” telephone numbers that it uses to send robotexts, and hers is on it, Law360 reported.
“Desperate to help drive the fan engagement that the MLB club owners so critically rely on, and to combat nosediving ratings and declining fan engagement, MLB Media and the club owners, including the Giants, began skirting their obligations under the TCPA and employed intrusive and illegal telephone marketing strategies,” she said.
She’s looking to represent a nationwide class of potentially thousands who received texts from MLB or the Giants without having provided consent.
She’s also seeking an injunction blocking the texts, statutory and treble damages.
It’s not uncommon for unwanted text messages to be the subject of class action lawsuits. Last month, retail company Express was hit with a class action lawsuit claiming it breached the TCPA in sending out annoying marketing messages.
Meanwhile, the TCPA is poised to get a lot of attention in 2021 due to another year of Supreme Court activity ruling on the law.
Stay in the loop with TCA, and let us know in the comments if you’ve been receiving robotexts without your consent.
The plaintiff is represented by John C. Carey, David P. Milian and Ruben Conitzer of Carey Rodriguez Milian LLP.
The MLB Robotext TCPA Proposed Class Action Lawsuit is Kristina Lee v. MLB Advanced Media LP et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-01719, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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One thought on ‘Desperate’ MLB and San Francisco Giants Face Class Action Over Robotexts
Yes, I received text messages from MLB, please add me.