Trump Campaign Allegedly Sent Unwanted Text Messages

A recent TCPA class action lawsuit claims that the Donald Trump campaign sent unwanted text messages to Minnesota residents.

As a part of his 2020 presidential campaign, president Donald Trump is hosting rallies around the country. In order to promote these rallies, the Trump for President campaign allegedly sends consumers unwanted text messages.

Plaintiffs Dan Pederson, Connor Olson, and Shell Wheeler recently filed a spam text class action lawsuit against the Donald Trump campaign, claiming that they received unsolicited text messages. The three Minnesota residents, who are reportedly registered Democrats, reportedly received several text messages from the campaign in October.

Wheeler and Olson reportedly received the text messages in early October naming “Pres. Trump” as the sender, saying “I want to see YOU” at the Oct. 10 campaign rally held in Minneapolis, Minn. The messages said, “To claim your free tickets, RSVP here!” followed by a short link directed to the Donald Trump campaign page.

Pederson allegedly received a similar message in mid-October following the rally. This message allegedly said “Enough hearings. Enough investigations.” and invited the recipient to contact Representative Angie Craig in support of Donald Trump amid the recent impeachment hearings.

The plaintiffs claim that they did not want to receive these text messages and have no affiliation with Trump’s campaign.

“Plaintiffs have no affiliation with the Trump For President campaign and are registered Democrats who have never provided any donations to Donald J. Trump or attended any previous campaign rally for Donald J. Trump,” the spam text class action argues.

According to the Trump class action, these text messages violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). TCPA is a federal law that prohibits unsolicited telemarketing communications such as unwanted text messages, robocalls, and junk faxes. The law was passed by Congress in 1991 in order to combat the growing complaints of harassing telemarketing calls.

Unless a consumer has consented to receiving these communications, businesses are not allowed to contact them for telemarketing purposes. Under 2012 TCPA rule changes, businesses are not even allowed to send these communications to consumers based on a pre-existing business relationship. Now, businesses must receive “prior express written consent” from consumers before contacting them.

Plaintiffs in the Trump TCPA class action claim that the text messages received from Donald Trump were a violation of TCPA as they were unsolicited and allegedly placed using an automatic telephone dialing system.

“Plaintiffs are informed believe the spam political campaign text messages they received were generated through communication technology called peer-to-peer text messaging which is an ATDS that sends text messages to lists of cellular recipients which have been uploaded by the Defendant,” the TCPA Trump class action lawsuit claims.

The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of consumers who received a text message from the Trump Campaign through a ten digit phone number without consent within the last four years. They also seek to represent a Class of consumers who receive the same texts from short code 88022.

For each alleged violation of TCPA, the plaintiffs seek damages of up to $1,500.

The Trump TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Pederson, et al. v. Donald J. Trump for President Inc., Case No. 0:19-cv-02735, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

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