Real Estate Advertising Text Messages Might Violate TCPA

A class action lawsuit filed on April 11, 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida challenges a Florida real estate business that purportedly sent thousands of advertising text messages regarding its various home listing and selling services. Plaintiff Manuel G. claims that his rights and that of countless citizens were violated by Florida Homes LLC.

This legal action was filed with the primary goal of seeking an injunction against the defendant to cease the text message activity carried out by themselves or a contracted third party.

Manuel claims that receiving and reviewing these incoming texts were primary nuisances that interfered with the enjoyment of their mobile phones. He indicates in the lawsuit, in which he is seeking to be named class representative, that receipt of the texts use up battery life and wore down the components of the device over time.

Additionally, the complainant relates that data services and cell phone time are paid for by the recipient and should not be a “free to use” method of generating business.

What is the TCPA?

Advertising text messages are an annoying part of modern life with its plethora of cellular telephone devices. A number of consumers are unaware that sending these messages may be against federal law if the advertiser fails to have the prior consent of the recipient.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) seeks to protect consumers of the wanton disregard for privacy that occurs when businesses use automated dialing equipment or robo-dialers to send advertising text messages.

The TCPA become a federal law in 1991. At the time of its institution, according to Twilio, there was a cresting wave of harassment through unsolicited faxes, telemarketing calls, and text messages. The TCPA provided legal recourse to consumers by spelling out precise rules that solicitors must follow when seeking to contact the public. With the help of a TCPA attorney, citizens can sue those businesses that failed to conform to the standards.

Among the guidelines of electronic solicitation provided by the TCPA is a prohibition on the unconsented use of automatic telephone dialing ystems (ATDS). According to this lawsuit, an ATDS can store specific cellular phone numbers to call or randomly select them through use of a sequential number generator.

Another guideline is that solicitors must honor the National Do Not Call Registry. This is a registry where consumers have indicated they do not want associated phone numbers used for telemarketing purposes.

This is maintained by the Federal Trade Commission of the U.S. According to Do Not Call.gov, registering a mobile phone or landline is free and the website offers the ability to report failures to comply if a company repeatedly calls a consumer after a 30 day post-registration wait period.

In his TCPA class action lawsuit, Manuel alleges that unwanted texts were sent to numerous mobile numbers in the Florida region by the defendant. Some of these recipients could be considered as not giving their consent, while the remainder were registered on the National Do Not Call Registry and their requests were specifically ignored.

The plaintiff himself claims that he received six unwanted texts from Florida Homes LLC on Dec. 6 and 7, 2018. Manuel notes that he had been registered on the National Do Not Call List since 2012. He hopes to be able to get this lawsuit certified as a class action so actual and statutory damages can be pursued under the TCPA.

The Florida Homes TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 0:19-cv-60950-WPD in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.