Planet Fitness Class Action Says Free Water Bottle Texts Violate TCPA

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According to a class action lawsuit, a text message sent by Planet Fitness advertising that gym members would receive a free water bottle for their workout violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Plaintiff Jody Steward of Florida claims that she received a text message to her cellular phone from Planet Fitness on October 17, 2018.

She says that this message was sent via an automatic dialer and was designed for a mass audience. The Planet Fitness class action alleges that sending the marketing messages to her and other customers violated federal law.

Steward claims that the text message read “Thank you for being a Planet Fitness member. Show this text at your home gym today and receive a free water bottle for your workout!”

The Planet Fitness text message class action alleges that Steward could tell that the message was sent to many people and not just her because of the general, promotional nature of the text.

Additionally, the plaintiff says she knows that the message went out to many people because it was sent using a “short code”  number, which is commonly used by businesses to send messages to numerous consumers for promotional purposes.

Steward also says that the promotional message violates the TCPA, which prohibits businesses from sending texts, calls, and faxes, that “encourage the future purchase or investment in property, goods, or services.”

According to the Planet Fitness class action, the gym chain encouraged the plaintiff to invest in their services in this text by encouraging her to workout at one of their locations.

The Planet Fitness spam text class action lawsuit states that the TCPA prohibits businesses from sending telemarketing text messages, calls, and faxes to individuals without their consent. Allegedly, the TPCA covers messages sent via autodialer or sent en mass.

Steward goes on to argue that these messages violated the TCPA because they were sent without her consent. She says that she never authorized Planet Fitness to send her messages or call her.

Allegedly, the TCPA requires businesses to get prior written consent from individuals to send them messages, and she never gave this to Planet Fitness.

The Planet Fitness gym text class action lawsuit notes that Steward’s phone number has been registered with the Do Not Call registry since 2004, making it unlawful for businesses to call it.

Allegedly, Congress determined that spam calls were financially damaging to people with both prepaid and post-paid phone plans, and that these messages were not only financially damaging, but emotionally disruptive and bothersome.

Steward seeks damages for herself and on behalf of all similarly affected consumers who received an unsolicited spam text from Planet Fitness in the last four years.

She also seeks damages on behalf of a subclass of people who were sent a spam text from Planet Fitness in the last 12 months even though their phone number is listed on the National Do Not Call Registry.

Steward is represented by Andrew J. Shamis of Shamis & Gentile PA and by Scott Edelsberg of Edelsberg Law PA.

The Planet Fitness Marketing Text Class Action Lawsuit is Jody Steward v. Planet Fitness Inc., Case No. 9:19-cv-80091-KAM, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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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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