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AT&T faces a class action lawsuit seeking TCPA damages and claiming that the company sent unsolicited faxes.
According to lead plaintiff Vahe Messerlian, consumers who received these unsolicited faxes were forced to pay for the “junk faxes” due to a subscription that charged per fax. Because AT&T allegedly failed to give consumers the option to opt out of receiving these communications, they had no choice but to pay for the junk faxes, according to Law360.
Messerlian brings claims against AT&T under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The TCPA is a federal law that aims to prevent harassing behaviors and communications through telephone calls, text messages, and fax communications.
The Federal Trade Commission (FCC) administers the law and may impose penalties if businesses are found to have violated the federal act. Alternatively, TCPA allows consumers to take legal action against businesses if they believe they have violated the federal law. Messerlian’s class action lawsuit is filed under these provisions.
Over the past decade, TCPA regulations regarding faxes have shifted numerous times. In 2005, the Junk Fax Prevention Act amended the TCPA to let businesses send unsolicited advertisements through fax to parties as long as they had an established business relationship and an opt out option was available with the message.
A year after the Junk Fax Prevention Act was put into effect, the FCC issued a new rule requiring that an opt out notice was required in all fax advertisements send by businesses, even if those communications were solicited.
However, the rule was reversed in 2017 by then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh. In his written opinion, Kavanaugh ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to govern fax communications that were sent with consumer consent. The FCC officially did away with the rule later that year.
Now, the FCC requires the sender of unsolicited faxes to have an established business relationship with the recipient (based on an inquiry, application, purchase or transaction). The commission also requires that the sender must have obtained the fax number directly from the recipient in the context of a business relationship, from a directory that the recipient consented to, or from the recipient’s own website or directory.
The agency also requires opt out messages to include “a cost-free way to submit the opt-out request to the sender, such as a toll-free number, local phone number, web site address, or email address. These opt-out contact options must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Although the rules regarding faxes have shifted, the AT&T class action argues that the unsolicited faxes violate TCPA. Messerlian seeks to represent a Class of consumers who received fax messages from AT&T despite not previously consenting to these communications.
The complaint seeks TCPA damages of up to $1,500 per each violation of the law. In total, Messerlian estimates that damages may exceed $5 million. The lead plaintiff also seeks to represent a subclass of the same individuals in California.
The AT&T TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Messerlian v. AT&T Teleholdings Inc., Case No. 2:19-cv-00645, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
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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