Vendor Digital Media Solutions (DMS) obtained prior express consent, plus prior express written consent, to contact the phone number at which plaintiff John Bryant alleges to have received the subject telemarketing calls from DMS, and so his Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims must fail, said the vendor. DMS filed its answer Monday (docket 8:23-cv-02171) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa to Bryant’s Oct. 27 first amended class action. To the extent that Bryant’s putative class members also provided such consent, “their claims also fail,” said DMS. Bryant alleges that Accuquote, an insurance leads company, hired DMS to place unsolicited telemarketing calls to Virginia phone numbers listed on the national do not call registry, in violation not only of the TCPA but also the Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act. DMS states “that it has complied with all applicable statutes and regulations, thereby barring any and all” of Bryant’s claims, said its answer. DMS also asserts that Bryant and the putative class members lack standing to bring their claims, because they haven’t incurred or suffered “any actual loss or concrete injury in fact or suffered any harm,” and certainly not harm that’s “fairly traceable” to DMS’ conduct, it said.

Plaintiff Ruhi Reimer voluntarily dismissed without prejudice his Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against Lord & Taylor, according to his notice of dismissal Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-00741) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria. Reimer alleged in his June 7 class action that he gave Lord & Taylor his consent so he could receive the retailer’s promotional text messages, but couldn’t get the messages to stop once he revoked that consent (see 2306080039).

Plaintiff Shannan Davis is reminded of her "duty” under Local Rule 3.09(a) to immediately file a notice of settlement with the court of her Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against telehealth company LifeMD after agreeing to resolve all or part of a civil action, even if the resolution is "contingent or unwritten," said U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington for Middle Florida in Tampa in a text-only endorsed order Tuesday (docket 8:23-cv-02138). Davis’ notice of mediation Monday said the parties and mediator Gregory Holder have agreed to mediation on Jan. 8. However, as the parties “are actively working to finalize a settlement agreement to dispose of this matter in its entirety, the parties anticipate the mediation will likely become unnecessary,” according to the notice. Davis’ Sept. 21 class action alleges that LifeMD contributed to the national “barrage” of phone spam by initiating more than 100 illegal text messages to her residential cellphone (see 2309220001).

Real estate company Sunbelt Homes “routinely violates” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending telemarketing text messages to residential cellphone numbers listed on the national do not call registry, alleged plaintiff Tyra Risher’s class action Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-05178) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. Risher listed her cellphone number with the DNC registry in September 2003, “and has maintained that registration through the present date,” said her complaint. Risher estimates receiving “dozens” of Sunbelt text messages that began in August from a “rotating series” of phone numbers on her cellphone that pitched her on Sunbelt’s services to sell her home, it said. Risher didn’t give Sunbelt “prior express invitation or permission” to send text message solicitations to her cellphone, it said. She suffered “actual harm as a result of the text messages at issue in that she suffered an invasion of privacy, an intrusion into her life, and a private nuisance,” it said. She also suffered “additional harm due to her frustration and difficulty in identifying the entity and persons responsible” for the unwanted text messages, it said. Sunbelt knew or should have known that Risher listed her cellphone number with the DNC registry roughly two decades before the text-messaging began, it said.

San Diego County resident Eli Olivares voluntarily dismissed without prejudice to refile his Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against home remodeling firm William Brothers Building & Construction, said his notice of dismissal Wednesday (docket 3:23-cv-01858) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego. Williams Brothers hasn’t filed or served an answer or motion for summary judgment, so the notice serves as the dismissal with prejudice under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i), it said. Olivares alleges he received at least nine “live calls” from William Brothers on his residential cellphone to “pitch” home remodeling services, though his number was listed on the national do not call registry since 2015 (see 2310120001).

Plaintiff Renata King and defendant BMO Bank, successor by merger to Bank of the West, agreed to refer King’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims to binding arbitration, and to stay the case pending the completion of that arbitration, said their stipulation Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-07365) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles. King alleges the bank hounded her with “numerous harassing calls” using an automatic telephone dialing system to collect a debt (see 2309070001). King filed her lawsuit Aug. 4 in state court before the bank removed it to federal court Sept. 6. BMO completed its Bank of the West acquisition from BNP Paribas July 21. The stipulation said BMO was "sued erroneously" as Bank of the West.

New England Health Group made telemarketing calls to residential numbers listed on the national do not call registry in violation of the prohibitions in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Kristy Beckwith alleged in a class action Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-12689) in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in Boston. Beckwith listed her number on the DNC registry July 25, yet she received at least six telemarketing calls from New England Health Group throughout the months of July, August and September, said her complaint. All the calls were from the same caller ID, 605-608-8724, and the ones Beckwith answered “all followed a similar telemarketing script” in promoting New England Health Group’s insurance plans, it said. Beckwith and the other call recipients “were harmed by these calls,” said her class action. “They were temporarily deprived of legitimate use of their phones because the phone line was tied up during the telemarketing calls and their privacy was improperly invaded,” it said. The calls injured Beckwith and the other call recipients “because they were frustrating, obnoxious, annoying” and were “a nuisance,” it said. The calls also “destroyed” the recipients’ “solitude,” it said.

Plaintiff Daniel Burton and defendant Paychex agreed that claims asserted on behalf of a putative class in Burton’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action are dismissed without prejudice, and claims asserted in his individual capacity are dismissed with prejudice, said their joint stipulation of dismissal Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-00734) in U.S. District Court for Western New York in Buffalo. Burton’s July class action alleged a number belonging to Paychex called his phone numerous times between February and July, though his number was listed on the national do not call registry (see 2307250048). Each party will bear its own court costs and attorneys' fees, said the stipulation.

Class-action plaintiff Sarah Meraz voluntarily dismissed without prejudice her Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims against Post University, said her Oct. 27 notice (docket 6:23-cv-01149), posted Monday in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana in Lafayette. Meraz alleged in her Aug. 24 class action that the Waterbury, Connecticut, school inundated her with multiple prerecorded voice message calls to her cellphone to promote its online degree programs (see 2308240043).

Allied Capital Services, a business finance firm specializing in government grants, sent multiple telemarketing text messages promoting COVID-19 employee retention credit relief grants under the 2020 Cares Act to Tiffany Harris’ cellphone between October and December 2022, though her number has been listed on the national do not call registry since January 2022, alleged her Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-08284) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. The Alabama plaintiff alleges that Allied “failed to establish and implement reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations” in violation of the TCPA. Allied also ignored her demands to stop, continuing to transmit unsolicited text messages to her cellphone, said her complaint. Harris alleges Allied doesn’t maintain a written policy, available on demand, for maintaining an internal DNC list, nor does it train its telemarketing employees or agents on the existence and use of any DNC list, as the TCPA requires, it said. She “properly alleges” injuries in fact, which are “fairly traceable” to Allied’s “unlawful acts,” and are “likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision,” said her class action: “Among other harms caused by the unlawful telemarketing text messages at issue, receiving the unwanted telemarketing resembles the kind of harm associated with intrusion upon seclusion.”