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Consumers who were victims of a robocall scheme promoting free cruises will get final payments in the $76 million settlement with Caribbean Cruise Line Inc. and others after an Illinois federal judge approved the payments.
US District Judge Matthew Kennelly approved the plan that will see Class Members get the remainder of their payments in one lump sum or in installments, which will account for the settlement administrator’s tax reporting obligations, Law360 reports.
So far, the consumers have only received partial $200 checks as part of the settlement with Caribbean Cruise Line Inc., Berkley Group, and Vacation Ownership Marketing Tours Inc. for alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations.
The 2012 class action lawsuit alleged that consumers received numerous unsolicited robocalls from the companies as part of a massive telemarketing scheme to offer free cruises that were actually designed to sell timeshares, Law360 reports.
Each call was valued at $500 minus a pro rata share of attorney fees and settlement administration costs, and a final settlement was approved in 2017, but then went to the federal appellate court twice.
About 12,000 of the 58,000 Class Members — which account for 184,659 calls — are still owed less than $600 to satisfy their claims, and 881 are owed more than $1,200, Law360 reports. The rest of the claimants are owed between $600 and $1,200. Those owed less than $600 will receive their payout in a lump sum.
Lawyers for the consumers told Law360 that they were “thrilled at the results achieved by this hard-fought case, which resulted in the largest TCPA settlement in history and individual awards of hundreds, and in many cases thousands of dollars, to class members.”
In 2018, counsel for the consumers was granted more than $14 million in attorney fees for their work on the case. Last June, Kennelly approved an additional $3.9 million in fees after the settlement administrator determined the settlement would be for the maximum amount of $76 million.
In February, Alarm.com reached a $28 million settlement with consumers over similar alleged TCPA violations, and in July last year debt collector Cavalry Portfolio Services reached an $18 million settlement to end claims that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by calling consumers without their consent.
Have you ever received robocalls from a company without giving the company consent to call you? Let us know in the comments section!
The class is represented by Jonathan Loevy, Scott Rauscher, and Michael Kanovitz of Loevy & Loevy and Jay Edelson, Rafey Balabanian, and Eve-Lynn Rapp of Edelson PC.
Caribbean Cruise Line is represented by Richard Epstein and Jeffrey Backman of Greenspoon Marder PA and Timothy Hudson of Tabet Divito & Rothstein LLC.
Berkley Group is represented by Richard Prendergast and Michael Layden of Richard Prendergast Ltd., Kevin Forde and Brian O’Meara of Forde & O’Meara LLP and M. Peebles Harrison of Rose Harrison & Gilreath PC. The Cruise TCPA Violations Class Action Lawsuit is Birchmeier et al. v. Caribbean Cruise Line Inc. et al., Case No. 1:12-cv-04069, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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133 thoughts onConsumers Targeted in Caribbean Cruise Robocall Scam to Get Final Payments in $76M Settlement
I received the initial sum of I believe $200.00. Then a smaller check under $100.00. I was told I would receive one last substantial check. To this date, 04-08-24, I have not heard anything further. When can I expect my final payment? Thanks.