Tracfone Class Action Lawsuit Says Ad Texts Violate TCPA

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A class action lawsuit claims that the prepaid mobile phone operator Tracfone Wireless Inc. violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending mass texts advertising its goods and services.

Plaintiff Brian Gallant says Tracfone sent him a spam text message on Dec. 24 advertising its business.

Gallant says that he has been registered on the National Do Not Call Registry since November 2017.

Allegedly, the fact that the company called him despite his number being registered on the list, Tracfone’s actions are in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

According to Gallant, Tracfone used a long code phone number to make recipients think that the message was sent to only them, when in reality, the message was sent to numerous phone numbers.

The Tracfone class action claims that the standard “long code,” a 10-digit phone number, mimics numbers sent by one individual.

Gallant’s Tracfone TCPA class action lawsuit argues that a long code “enabled [Tracfone] to send SMS text messages en masse, while deceiving recipients into believing that the message was personalized and sent from a telephone number operated by an individual.”

The Tracfone spam text class action lawsuit claims that Tracfone’s action of sending these text messages to many people advertising products and services violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Gallant seeks compensation allowed by the TCPA — $500 for each violation of the act — for himself and all other similarly affected individuals who received spam texts from Tracfone between February 2015 and when the TCPA class action lawsuit was filed. 

The plaintiff also seeks an injunction preventing Tracfone from continuing to allegedly violate the TCPA.

The Tracfone class action lawsuit states that the TCPA was enacted to protect individuals from having their privacy infringed upon by advertisers.

Adapting with changing technology, the act prevents businesses from advertising their goods and services by sending text messages or faxes or making phone calls without the recipients’ consent.

Gallant goes on to state that because his number was listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, he did not give his consent to be contacted by the company.

The Tracfone class action further claims that the TCPA prohibits businesses from sending spam texts using automatic dialers. He says Tracfone used an automatic dialer to send the spam texts to many individuals, violating the TCPA.

Laws surrounding robocalling and spam messages and calls have been the subject of debate lately.

In June, Democrats in the Senate urged the Federal Communications Commission to keep consumer protection laws strong, in response to a call for suggestions by the commission on how to classify smartphones within autodialers.

The D.C. Circuit ruled in March 2018 that guidelines in the TCPA could be read to mean that smartphones fall under the category of “autodialers,” because a user does not have to manually dial a number to place a call or send a message.

In response to its request for suggestions, the FCC received arguments from retailers and telecoms to loosen regulations so companies could contact potential customers via autodialing, but Senate Democrats took a different stance, urging the FCC to continue to protect consumers from autodialers.

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

The Tracfone Text Ads Class Action Lawsuit is Brian Gallant v. Tracfone Wireless Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-20580, 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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