DSW Shoe Warehouse Facing Class Action Over Allegedly Unsolicited Spam Texts [UPDATE]

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A proposed class action suit filed against Designer Brands Inc. and DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc. alleges the shoe vendors violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unsolicited, automated marketing texts in an effort to boost sales.

According to the suit, the lead plaintiff—whose phone number is listed with the National Do-Not-Call (DNC) Registry—received an auto-generated text message from DSW in July 2019 advertising a 20-percent off sale and a free gift at DSW locations. The text also included directions on how to unsubscribe to notifications by replying “stop.” The plaintiff did as instructed, the suit says, and received another text from DSW notifying him that he had been unsubscribed and would no longer receive text alerts.

About two weeks later, however, the plaintiff allegedly received two more texts from DSW advertising different offers but including the same instructions to unsubscribe. The plaintiff replied “stop” again, according to the complaint, but continued to receive texts.

The case includes 11 total texts allegedly sent to the plaintiff from the defendant, as well as seven from the plaintiff asking them to stop. The suit claims that these text messages were sent to the plaintiff without his prior consent and in violation of the TCPA.

The class proposed by the suit may include any consumer who received one or more text messages from or on behalf of DSW. Also proposed are subclasses for California residents and those with numbers in the National DNC registry.

The suit requests punitive or treble damages, as well as an injunction requiring DSW to stop sending unsolicited marketing texts.