We’ve all seen the ads from wireless carriers offering unlimited text messaging plans. If one of your customers has an unlimited text messaging plan, does Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) text messaging laws still apply, because what’s the harm in text messaging them, they’re not being charged for the text message right?Yes, even if a customer has an unlimited text messaging plan with their wireless carriers, the TCPA still applies to when and how you can text message them.
Need proof? See Case No. 14-cv-00267-YGR – MELITA MEYER v. BEBE STORES, INC., where Bebe Stores filed a motion to dismiss a recent TCPA text message marketing lawsuit, based on the fact the plaintiff (their customer) only claimed injury was economic. Being that the plaintiff had an unlimited text messaging plan, Bebe Stores wanted the TCPA text messaging lawsuit dismissed, because the plaintiff wasn’t charged for the text message they received, therefore there was no “economic injury”, as claimed in the lawsuit.
What happened to this motion to dismiss the TCPA text messaging lawsuit based on this claim? DENIED.
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s lawsuit because there was no “economic injury”, as the customer had an unlimited text messaging plan with their wireless carrier.
