Plaintiff Ruby Gamez and defendant Redbox reached an agreement settling Gamez’s Florida Telephone Solicitation Act claims against Redbox, Gamez’s settlement notice Friday (docket 8:23-cv-01497) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa said. The parties “are in the process of finalizing the settlement agreement,” it said. Gamez’s July class action alleged that Redbox phones consumers promoting goods and services without having secured prior express written consent, as the FTSA requires (see 2307060003). Redbox’s unlawful conduct "aggrieved" Gamez and class members, she said, because it “infringed upon their legal rights not to be subjected to the illegal acts at issue.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer knew of a May 2023 data breach of its computer network affecting the personally identifiable information (PII) of current and former employees and subscribers, but it waited nearly a year to inform victims of the cyberattack, a May 6 negligence class action alleged (docket 2:24-cv-02499). It was removed Friday from the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, to U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania. The suit also names the Inquirer’s owner, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred 18 tagalong actions to U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas in In Re: AT&T Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, said conditional transfer order 1 (CTO-1) (docket 3114) Wednesday. All the actions have been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ada Brown. The order is stayed for seven days to allow any party to file a notice of opposition with the clerk, it said. The 18 cases include five from three California district courts, and four from Northern Illinois, one from Western Missouri and three from Eastern Texas district courts. Also in the CTO are five class actions from U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, including Unruh et al v. AT&T Mobility, which had sought to have the MDL transferred to the Atlanta court (see 2405210050).
K-12 educational platform Securly “knowingly and willfully surveilled” student activity on their school-issued devices and collected their geolocation data without proper consent, alleged a privacy class action Wednesday (docket 0:24-cv-02159) in U.S. District Court for Minnesota in St. Paul.
Ronald Lightfoot filed a class action against SelectQuote to stop its practice of making unwanted and unsolicited prerecorded calls to the cellphones of consumers nationwide, “and to obtain redress for all persons injured by its conduct,” said the plaintiff’s complaint Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-04673) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. The recipients of the telemarketing calls “are not SelectQuote customers, have not made an inquiry with SelectQuote, and did not provide SelectQuote with consent to make telemarketing calls to their phones,” said the complaint. Through its “instant telemarketing campaign,” SelectQuote has initiated “millions” of unauthorized prerecorded calls to consumers across the U.S. without prior consent, “in clear violation” of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, it said. The defendant hired “third-party lead generators” to place the “nonconsensual” telemarketing calls at issue in the complaint, it said. The lead generators placed calls to Lightfoot and the class “at the direction of SelectQuote and with SelectQuote’s oversight,” it said. SelectQuote even entered into contracts with lead generators to transfer qualified leads to the company’s call centers, it said. The defendant “created criteria” for qualifying consumers, and it approved scripts for the lead generators’ use, it said. SelectQuote paid the lead generator for each call transfer, it said. Through its conduct, the company has caused consumers “actual harm,” said the complaint. Illinois resident Lightfoot and class members “were subjected to the aggravation that necessarily accompanies the receipt of such calls,” it said.
Volunteer Buyers places cold calls to consumers to promote its home buying options but in so doing, it violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by placing unsolicited calls to phone numbers that are listed on the national do not call registry, alleged plaintiff Gina Moore’s class action Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-02377) in U.S. District Court for Western Tennessee. Moore, a Memphis resident, received an unsolicited call from Volunteer Buyers on April 17, said the complaint. When Moore answered, a representative told her he was calling to make an offer on her home, it said. Moore told the rep that she won’t sell the property “and that she’s concerned about the methods Volunteer Buyers used to acquire her contact information,” it said. The call ended with the plaintiff telling the rep not to call her anymore, it said. She nevertheless received a second solicitation call from Volunteer Buyers a few minutes later, it said. The unauthorized solicitation calls have harmed Moore “in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy,” plus they have occupied her phone line and disturbed the use and enjoyment of her phone, it said.
Trulieve, a Tallahassee-based dispensary of medical and recreational cannabis products, engages in unsolicited text-messaging to promote its goods and services, and continues to text-message consumers after they have opted out of the company’s solicitations, alleged plaintiff Juliana Martinez’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Tuesday (docket 0:24-cv-60952) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida. Trulieve also engages in telemarketing “without the required policies and procedures,” and without proper training of its telemarketing personnel, also in violation of the TCPA, alleged Martinez’s complaint. The Florida resident phoned Trulieve May 1, requesting to opt out of receiving its text messages, said the complaint. Trulieve subsequently acknowledged her opt-out request but resumed sending Martinez its text messages May 9, it said. She tried again the next day to opt out of the text messages, but Trulieve again ignored her request, it said. Martinez estimates the dispensary sent her nine text messages after her first opt-out request, including six after the second such request, it said. Trulieve’s refusal to honor the plaintiff’s opt-out requests shows that the defendant hasn’t instituted procedures for maintaining a list of people who request not to receive text messages from the company, said the complaint. “The precise details regarding its lack of requisite policies and procedures” are solely within Trulieve’s “knowledge and control,” it said. Upon information and belief, Trulieve has access to outbound transmission reports for all text messages sent advertising or promoting its services and goods, it said. Those reports show the dates, times, target phone numbers and content of each message sent to Martinez and the class members, it said. Trulieve’s text messages caused Martinez and the class members harm, including inconvenience, invasion of privacy, aggravation, annoyance and violation of their statutory privacy rights, said the complaint.
Signet Jewelers, which operates Zales stores nationally, beckons customers to sign up for its email promotions to entice them to visit its stores, without disclosing that it embeds those emails with “hidden spy pixel trackers,” alleged plaintiff Claudette Torrez’s class action Tuesday (docket 2:24-cv-01332) in U.S. District Court for Arizona.
To promote its leather goods and services, Portland Leather engages in unsolicited text messaging and continues to text message consumers after they have opted out of those solicitations, alleged plaintiff Carolina Wyche’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Monday (docket 2:24-cv-01424) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Louisiana. Portland’s illegal conduct “has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation, and disruption of the daily life of thousands of individuals,” said Wyche’s complaint. Portland has caused multiple text messages to be transmitted to Wyche’s cellphone, it said. The plaintiff first asked Portland on Feb. 2 to stop contacting her, but the company sent her at least a dozen more text messages through May 25, said the complaint. The company doesn’t honor consumer requests to opt-out of text message solicitations, though Wyche’s cellphone number has been listed on the national do not call registry since August 2006, it said. Portland’s failure to honor opt-out requests demonstrates that it doesn’t maintain written policies and procedures regarding its text messaging marketing, it said. It also shows that Portland fails to properly train its telemarketing personnel and that it doesn’t maintain a standalone DNC list, it said. Portland’s text message “spam” caused Wyche and the class members harm, “including violations of their statutory rights, trespass, annoyance, nuisance, invasion of their privacy, and intrusion upon seclusion,” it said. The text messages also occupied storage space on Wyche’s and class members’ phones, it said.
Employees at Illinois companies that use Recognition Systems scanners are required to have their hand geometry scanned into a biometric device as a condition of employment, exposing them to “serious and irreversible privacy risks,” alleged an Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) class action Monday (docket 9:24-cv-03999) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York.