Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Advances in technology have done many wonderful things for us, but they have also made life more frustrating in some ways. For example, using automated dialing equipment, companies can now call or text many people at once at very little expense. Unfortunately, this is not only annoying for customers, it can also get expensive for some consumers and wastes time dealing with junk, unwanted messages and calls.
Before cell phones, the person or company making the call would be the one to pay for it. With the invention of cell phones though, telephone companies started charging customers for the calls they received. The result was that some customers were paying for calls they did not want to receive and were also having to waste time dealing with them. To remedy this invasion of privacy, legislators introduced the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which makes it illegal to contact someone on their cell phone in a non-emergency situation without the person’s express permission to do so. Despite this law, companies continue to use automated dialing systems to reach customers with unwanted calls and text messages.
According to a recent class action lawsuit, the San Diego Chargers NFL franchise allegedly violated the TCPA by allegedly using automated dialing systems to make unsolicited calls to sell tickets to customers. The lawsuit was filed by Paul Story who alleges he received unsolicited phone calls on his cell phone from a phone number that was associated with websites operated by the Chargers Football Company, LLC. Story alleges he never provided any signed authorization to anyone that permitted the football company to contact him on his cell phone for non-emergency purposes.
According to the lawsuit, the number of phone calls Story received from the Chargers could only be accomplished by using an automated dialing system. The lawsuit alleges the Chargers placed thousands of such phone calls, all for advertising and telemarketing purposes, to members of the general public. Story is unsure exactly how many people are eligible to participate in his proposed class action, but he alleges that these calls were made to well over 40 people (the minimum number of members required for a class to be certified). The Chargers deny all of the claims.
Because the TCPA is a federal law, many TCPA lawsuits are filed in federal court. Story however, filed his class action in California circuit court, pointing to a Supreme Court decision that held that state and federal courts both have jurisdiction over TCPA claims.
The Chargers are not the only NFL team to be accused of violating the TCPA. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers face a alleged class action alleging the NFL franchise sent advertisements for tickets to more than 100,000 different fax numbers. The Chargers are fighting the suit and deny the claims.
When a consumer files a lawsuit to protect his rights under the law, the ability to file a class action lawsuit is more useful than ever. The amount paid for each unwanted phone call or fax is minimal, but that doesn’t mean it is without merit. It does mean that such claims are too small for consumers to bother to file a lawsuit on their own behalf, as the costs of filing the lawsuit will outweigh the potential payout. By combining the claims of many consumers, plaintiffs have the ability to come up with claims that are sufficiently large to warrant bringing their complaint to a court of law.Our Chicago class action lawyers near Naperville and Wheaton bring class action, privacy law and individual consumer rights lawsuits. We bring suit for many types of class action lawsuits for consumer fraud issues and for unpaid overtime, junk fax, junk text messages, privacy rights violations, property damages due to pollution, false advertising and other claims. Super Lawyers has selected our Kane, DuPage and Cook County class action lawyers as among the top 5% in Illinois. Our Chicago class action attorneys only collect our fees if we win or settle your case. For a free consultation call us at our toll free number 630-333-0333 or contact us on the web by clicking here.