Digital Media Solutions places telemarketing calls, including calls that use prerecorded voice messages, to consumers throughout the U.S., in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged Jeffrey Kathman’s class action Tuesday (docket 8:24-cv-00353) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa. Digital Media Solutions is a "conglomerate" of digital marketing companies selling various products to consumers, and it also gathers and sells consumer leads to insurance and solar companies, said the complaint. The Parrish, Florida, resident listed his cellphone number on the national do not call registry in April 2014, yet he received multiple prerecorded calls from or on behalf of Digital Media Solutions “using a multitude of spoofed phone numbers that could not be called back,” his complaint alleges. Kathman estimates he received at least 11 calls from Digital Media Solutions soliciting him for Medicare supplemental insurance coverage. The calls have harmed Kathman “in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy,” said the complaint. He seeks injunctive relief to halt the unlawful conduct, plus the recovery of damages and court costs.

March 8 is plaintiff Radley Bradford’s deadline for any motion to join other parties, amend the pleadings or file additional pleadings in his Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action against Beyond Finance, a provider of debt-consolidation services, said an order signed Monday (docket 3:23-cv-01904) by U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Goddard for Southern California in San Diego. Class discovery must be completed by May 20, and Bradford’s motion for class certification is due July 1, said Goddard’s order. Bradford’s class action alleges that Beyond Finance committed “knowing and intentional” violations of the TCPA, and didn’t maintain procedures “reasonably adapted to avoid any such violation” (see 2310190002).

Plaintiffs Tiffany Harris, Dianne Sullivan and Virginia Cole collectively received nine telemarketing calls from Senior Life Insurance Co. promoting final expense insurance to numbers listed on the national do not call registry, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged their class action Monday (docket 2:24-cv-00035) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington in Spokane. At no point in time did the plaintiffs provide the insurer with their express written consent to be contacted, said their complaint. The defendant’s unsolicited phone calls caused the plaintiffs “actual harm,” including invasion of their privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, trespass and conversion, it said. The plaintiffs estimate that they spent numerous hours investigating the unwanted phone calls, including how the insurer obtained their numbers and who the insurer was, it said.

Heather Lee Minor isn’t willing to agree to a third extension for Apollo Interactive’s discovery responses after the defendant missed its Jan. 18 for providing those responses, said the parties’ joint status report Monday (docket 4:23-cv-00355) in U.S. District Court for Northern Florida in Tallahassee. Minor’s class action alleges that Apollo, an advertising agency that provides lead-generation services to businesses in the insurance industry, inundates U.S. consumers with unsolicited texts through a program called Apollo Alerts, to numbers listed on the national do not call registry (see 2308110002). She alleges she listed her cellphone number on the DNC registry in March 2022, yet she received multiple text messages from Apollo targeted to named consumers she didn’t know.

Team Sunshine Solar promotes roofing and solar services for New England-area homeowners by engaging in “unsolicited marketing, harming thousands of consumers in the process,” alleged Alan Grochowski’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Friday (docket 2:24-cv-14030) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Pierce. A resident of Sebastian, Florida, Grochowski has been on the national do not call registry since July 2003, yet he received a Team Sunshine Solar telemarketing call April 14, said his complaint. Grochowski answered the call, and the telemarketing agent “began discussing solar installation for a home in New Hampshire,” it said. Grochowski once lived in New Hampshire, but no longer does. He told the caller he wasn’t interested and not to call him again, it said. Yet the company placed at least four additional calls or texts to Grochowski May 6 and 7, it said. He seeks a declaration that the company’s practices violate the TCPA, and an injunction prohibiting it from calling residential numbers on the national DNC registry “without the prior express permission of the called party.”

Lead-generation businesses Lightfoot Media and Power House Marketing deny Kyle Roseboro's class-action allegations that they “routinely violate” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by delivering telemarketing text messages to residential numbers listed on the national do not call registry without the recipients' prior express invitation or permission (see 2311160001), said their answer Friday (docket 1:23-cv-15983) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. At all times, the defendants “acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds for believing their actions were in compliance with the TCPA,” including by implementing procedures to prevent violations and maintaining an internal do not call list, said their answer. Without assuming the burden of proof, Roseboro and members of the purported class or collective action aren’t “similarly situated,” it said. The purported class members' potential claims “reflect variability,” and “individual issues predominate” between the plaintiff and his purported class members, it said. The plaintiff’s claims are barred because he provided prior express written permission to receive the communications at issue in the complaint, it said. Roseboro and his class members also didn’t follow “proper procedures or channels to revoke their consent,” so their revocation of consent wasn’t “properly executed,” it said.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie White for Eastern Missouri in St. Louis dismissed Daniel Human's claims against defendants John and Jane Does 1 through 4 in the plaintiff's amended Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint against BMW of West St. Louis, said the judge’s signed memorandum and order of partial dismissal Friday (docket 4:23-cv-01577). Human alleges the dealership and the Doe defendants made unwanted calls to his cellphone number in violation of the TCPA and Missouri’s No Call List (see 2312110003). But a plaintiff may not bring claims against a fictitious party, though an action may proceed against a party whose name is unknown if the complaint makes allegations specific enough to permit the identity of the party to be ascertained after reasonable discovery, said the judge’s order. The judge has reviewed the allegations against the Doe defendants and finds the amended complaint doesn’t sufficiently allege who the Doe defendants are, what their positions were, or other facts that would permit the Doe defendants to be noticed or identified through discovery, it said. Human describes the Doe defendants as telemarketers, vendors, agents, call center employees or supervisors “who called him on unspecified dates and times,” it said. He fails to make allegations that are “adequately specific” to allow identification of these defendants "and, therefore, dismissal without prejudice is appropriate,” it said.

Joshua Champion and the Credit Pros International voluntarily dismissed with prejudice all Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims brought by Champion, said their joint stipulation of dismissal Friday (docket 2:21-cv-10814) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark. Each side will bear its own costs and fees, said the stipulation. None of the rights of any putative class members other than Champion “have been released or are otherwise affected by this dismissal,” it said: “This dismissal resolves the entire action.” Champion's class action alleged that Credit Pros, a credit repair company, sent 56 text message solicitations between October 2020 and January 2021 to a number he had listed on the national do not call registry since July 2019 (see 2305170028).

William Hunsaker and defendant Mike Johnson for Louisiana, the House speaker’s principal campaign committee, stipulate to Hunsaker’s voluntary dismissal of his Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims with prejudice, said their joint notice Friday (docket 1:23-cv-03322) in U.S. District Court for Colorado in Denver. Each party will pay its own costs, said the notice. Hunsaker's complaint alleged the committee violated the TCPA and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act by inundating his cellphone with at least five text-message solicitations for campaign donations without his prior written consent (see 2312190001).

Jeweler Blue Nile is “shielded” from Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability “because it has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent violations” of the statute, said its answer Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-15444) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago to George Moore’s Sept. 30 TCPA class action (see 2310310002). Moore’s cellphone number was listed on the national do not call registry for years before he began receiving Blue Nile’s text-message solicitations May 24, said his complaint. He alleges that the solicitations began after he visited a Blue Nile store and engaged with a salesperson. He denies ever giving the jeweler his consent to receive the texts. But Blue Nile asserts that “proper consent was obtained to place the alleged text messages” to Moore and his putative class members, said the jeweler’s answer. It also asserts that Blue Nile had an established business relationship with Moore and his putative class members “as that term is defined” under the TCPA, it said. Moore's conduct and that of his class members “puts them outside the zone of interest” for which the TCPA was enacted, “and they are therefore barred" from recovering any damages, it said. Blue Nile admits that Moore texted “stop” to try putting an ends to the text messages, but that doing so was “insufficient” to terminate his established business relationship Blue Nile, “given that the shared basket text messages were not sent on an automated system,” it said. Blue Nile has acted in “a good faith belief” that it is and was complying with all “applicable provisions” of the TCPA, said its answer. Blue Nile had no intention to violate any provision of the TCPA, and so it didn’t “willfully violate” the statute, it said. To the extent that Moore and any putative class members seek to hold Blue Nile liable for any violations of TCPA regulations promulgated by the FCC, Blue Nile asserts that the FCC “exceeded its authority in promulgating such regulations,” said its answer. Blue Nile further asserts that the FCC’s orders relating to the placement of calls or text messages to phone numbers listed on the DNC registry “are interpretive, rather than legislative, rules,” it said.