Class Action Alleges Eberjey Violated FTSA’s Caller ID Rules

Online sleep and loungewear retailer Eberjey on Monday removed to U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Lauderdale an Oct. 26 class action filed in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County in which plaintiff Axel Bilbao alleges Eberjey violated the caller ID rules of the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act. Bilbao alleges Eberjey sent him multiple text messages promoting its products, said Eberjey’s notice of removal (docket 0:23-cv-62308). The text messages transmitted the short code 45987 but didn’t transmit to Bilbao’s cellphone caller ID phone numbers “that were capable of receiving telephone calls or that could connect him to Eberjey,” it said. Bilbao also alleges that when he received one such text message from Eberjey, he tried to call the short code by dialing 45987, but the call couldn’t be completed as dialed. Bilbao also alleges he tried to text Eberjey by sending a couple of questions by text messages but received only automated “non-responsive responses,” it said. Eberjey “expressly denies” Bilbao’s allegations and denies that he or any putative class members “have any valid claim,” said the notice of removal. The caller ID rules “are a critical provision of the FTSA,” said Bilbao’s complaint. The rules are designed to ensure that when telephone sales calls are made, the phone number transmitted to the recipient’s caller ID service can be viewed and called back by the consumer, it said. “The importance and purpose of these protections is unmistakable,” it said. Violations of the caller ID rules can’t be “remedied” by the cessation of the telephone sales calls themselves, and can’t be “consented to or waived” by the call recipients, it said.