Häagen­-Dazs Customer Wants ‘Thank You’ Text Class Action Certified

A California federal court was recently asked to certify a Class of consumers who allegedly received unsolicited “thank you” texts from Häagen-­Dazs.

Plaintiff Melanie San Pedro-Salcedo claims that, while Häagen­-Dazs asked consumer whether or not they wanted to join a rewards program with their phone number at the end of checkout transactions, consumers consented verbally not through written form.

Therefore, when Häagen­-Dazs sent text messages advertising the company’s mobile app, San Pedro-Salcedo argues that they company hadn’t obtained consent.

San Pedro-Salcedo seeks to represent a Class of consumers who have received at least one text from Häagen­-Dazs within the four years preceding the filing of her Häagen-Dazs class action lawsuit.

She argues that her proposed Class should be certified because it satisfies requirements for Class certification under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These requirements include numerosity, commonality, typicality, adequacy of representation, superiority, and predominance of common issues.

“This case is a textbook example of a claim that should be tried on a class basis,” San Pedro-­Salcedo wrote in her motion for Class certification. “Each unauthorized text message was sent from a single source that utilized the same technology. Each message was sent to promote the Häagen-Dazs app, which itself served to promote the company’s products and retail stores. Each message violated the TCPA because defendants never obtained written consent from the putative class members. Defendants’ conduct inherently creates classwide liability.”

Häagen-Dazs was hit with the class action lawsuit in June 2017, with Pedro-Salcedo claiming that the ice cream company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unwanted advertisements through text messages without consumer consent.

Pedro-Salcedo allegedly experienced the issue in April 2017 when she received a text message after shopping at a Häagen-Dazs location in San Jose, California. She reportedly gave the cashier her phone number so that she could be enrolled in a rewards program, and later received an automated text message that read: “Thank you for joining Häagen-Dazs Rewards! Download our app here.”

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was enacted in 1991 to protect consumers from a variety of abusing telephone robocall behaviors. Since its initial filing, the scope of the federal law has been expanded to include text messages and faxes.

Under the TCPA, businesses are prohibited from placing robocalls using an automatic dialing system, sending unsolicited text messages, failing to provide an option to opt out of communications, calling numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and more.

Häagen-­Dazs attempted to have the class action lawsuit dismissed but, in October 2017, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila denied the company’s motion. Judge Davila found that San Pedro-Salcedo had sufficiently pleaded her claims under the TCPA and that Häagen-­Dazs did not have grounds to dismiss the Häagen-Dazs class action lawsuit.

San Pedro-­Salcedo is represented by Marc L. Godino, Stan Karas and Danielle L. Manning of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP; Mark S. Greenstone of Greenstone Law APC and Michael J. Jaurigue of Jaurigue Law Group.

The Häagen­-Dazs Unwanted Text Advertisement Class Action Lawsuit is San Pedro-­Salcedo v. The Häagen­-Dazs Shoppe Co. Inc., et al., Case No. 5:17-­cv­-03504, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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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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