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A California cannabis dispensary is using an automated text messaging system to blast out thousands of unwanted messages to potential customers, wasting people’s time, a new proposed class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Michael Arnold filed the proposed nationwide class action against I Heart Canna Thursday in the Eastern District of California alleging that, to promote its services, it engages in aggressive unsolicited marketing, “harming thousands of consumers in the process.” He is looking to sue the company for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
If you received an unsolicited text message, ringless voicemail, robocall, and/or a call with a pre-recorded voice from a marijuana dispensary, you may qualify for a free claim review. For more info, click here.
The Solano County man said I Heart Canna started messaging him around June 18, 2020, offering new strains of marijuana and deals on their delivery service. He received multiple messages, which persisted through the months, with Arnold getting about 14 texts in total.
He said the messages constituted telemarketing, because they offered goods and services, and he believed they had been sent using an automatic telephone dialing system due to their “impersonal and generic” nature.
Arnold laid out in the class action lawsuit how he believed I Heart Canna had used a technology platform to transmit thousands of automated text messages without human involvement.
“The execution of these instructions occurred seamlessly, with no human intervention, and almost instantaneously. Indeed, the Platform is capable of transmitting thousands of text messages following the above steps in minutes, if not less,” the lawsuit stated.
The unsolicited text messages caused Arnold harm, including invasion of privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, inconvenience and disruption to his daily life, he said. Each time he got a text he allegedly “wasted” 15 to 30 seconds reviewing it, having to stop what he was doing, according to the lawsuit.
“Next, Plaintiff wasted approximately fifteen minutes locating and retaining counsel for this case in order to stop Defendant’s unwanted calls,” the class action lawsuit said.
Arnold is seeking certification of the Class representing any person in the United States who received similar unwanted text messages from the company in the past four years.
He is seeking between $500 and $1,500 in damages under the TCPA for each text message, as well as an injunction against future communications, costs, fees and a jury trial.
It has been three decades since the TCPA became law, and it’s poised to get a lot of attention in 2021 because of another year of Supreme Court activity. Read more about what that may mean for consumers here.
Have you received unwanted, impersonal text messages from a business? Let us know what happened in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Scott Edelsberg of Edelsberg Law, P.A.
The Mothership Enterprises TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Michael Arnold et al. v. Mothership Enterprises, Case No. 2:21-cv-00498-JAM-JDP, in the United States District Court Eastern District of California.
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