Class Action Lawsuit Says Spam Message From Car Dealer Violates TCPA

A Florida resident has filed a class action lawsuit saying that a car dealer in his state sent a spam message that violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The Florida car dealership TCPA class action lawsuit was filed by Daryl Teblum again Germain on Davis LLC, also known as Germain Honda of Naples. He claims that he received a text message from the car dealer on May 2, 2019, without his consent. Allegedly, the message inquired about whether or not Teblum wanted to purchase a vehicle.

According to Teblum, the test message read, “Germain Honda of Naples: Daryl — are you still interested in the CR-V — Louise Castro.” Teblum says that he then sent a text message saying “STOP” in response to the message.

Teblum claims that the message was spam because it was sent in an effort to get him to purchase a car. Teblum argues that the spam message violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act because it was telemarketing and was sent without his consent.

The car dealership TCPA violation class action lawsuit states that the TCPA prohibits businesses from sending telemarketing calls, texts, or faxes to anyone who did not give prior, express consent to receive such messages.

Teblum says that at no point did he give the car dealership consent to send him messages, and furthermore, he says that he explicitly withdrew consent by texting “STOP” in response to the message.

According to the spam text class action lawsuit, the spam message was sent to many people, which is also prohibited by the TCPA, notes Twilio. Allegedly, the text message was sent via a long code, in order to imitate the numbers from which many individuals send messages. 

However, Teblum asserts that the message was in fact sent to many people at once. Teblaum says that the generic nature of the text he received from Germain on Davis LLC indicated to him that the message was intended for many people.

Teblum goes on to note that he could tell that the message was automated because the number had an auto-reply option that responded to his command to “STOP” the text messages.

Teblum says that in response to his “STOP” command, he received a message that said “You have successfully been removed from Germain Honda of Naples text messages.”

The Germain Honda class action lawsuit asserts that no human intervention is required to complete the interaction that Teblaum had with the system, and that it is all done in an automated fashion.

Teblaum says that he and many other customers were injured in a similar fashion by the text messages — they were inconvenienced and had their privacy infringed upon, and had the use of their phone, as well as their phone plan, taken up by an unwanted message.

The Florida Honda Dealership TCPA Violation Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 2:19-cv-00440-SPC-NPM, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Join a Free Car Dealership TCPA Violations Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

You may be eligible to join this lawsuit investigation into car dealership TCPA violations under the following circumstances:

• You did NOT provide express permission in writing to the car dealership to receive the calls or messages.
  You did NOT purchase a vehicle from the dealership that is contacting you.

Learn More